Tech for All by Lauren Comito

Author:Lauren Comito [Comito, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2018-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

Funding for the Laptop Discovery Kit came from the DIF budget and an internal Innovations Grant from the City Library. The initial pilot program had a total budget of $10,300 and covered the expenses and staff costs for 15 laptop kits to circulate at three branches. The budget included funds for: 15 Chromebooks; 15 Hotspots; 15 mice; 15 laptop sleeves; 3 wall charging stations; 15 warranties on hardware; 15 management software packages; printed promotional materials; IMS personnel, restoring device upon check-in; circulation personnel, cleaning device, checking for damage, and so on; and communication personnel for marketing and promoting the kits.

Shauna Edson created a workgroup to discuss the feasibility and plan the initial stages of the project. The workgroup included Peter Bromberg and Debbie Ehrman from the Executive Leadership Team, Tommy Hamby from Adult Services, Brian LaRue from IMS, Jennifer Briggs and Andrew Eoff from Circulation, and Gwen Page from Tech Access. Shauna also received personnel hours and a print budget from Andrew Shaw in Communications. As the DIF, Shauna worked with the group to plan and implement a sustainable timeline for the project. Shauna and Tommy trained staff at branches, Tech Access staff, and Tech League volunteers to conduct pre-checkout orientations, and worked with circulation and IMS to create circulation procedures. Shauna conducted a post-device check-in survey and compiled the data to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

The library included security measures when designing the kits. To discourage reselling the kits, the Chromebooks and Hotspots were engraved with the library name. The Chromebooks were managed with a Google Management Software package and were set to wipe back to the image setting after every session. Both the Hotspots and the Chromebooks can be remotely disabled and are shut off three days after the due date. At that time, the kit is useless to the patrons.

The Laptop Discovery Kit pilot program measured outcomes to help determine the digital needs of the library’s patrons. Library staff oriented the patrons on the kit as part of checkout procedures. During the orientation the patron set up an email account and learned the basic skills to use the devices. Patrons filled out a User Agreement and accessed a User Guide if they had further questions. At check-in, patrons completed a survey that established digital literacy knowledge gained from the project, uses of the Hotspot and Chromebook, and areas the project could improve. The data gained will be analyzed to determine if the project is reaching communities in the digital divide, determine what technology needs exist, and discover desired digital literacy education.

Prior to launching the pilot program, the program received an additional $5,000 in funding from the addition of a second DIF. The additional funding was enough to expand the program to 20 Laptop Kits, 5 each at the Main Library and 3 branches. The pilot had a soft launch in March of 2017, and within a few weeks all of the kits were checked out. Google Fiber saw an article in a local newspaper on the

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