Leveling the Playing Field: Loaning Library Laptops for Community College Student Success

Unique educational space of community colleges

One of the core missions of both public and academic libraries is to remove barriers to information and increase technology access for their patrons. Libraries offer access to resources at no- or low-cost to their communities; services range from free Wi-fi, computer access, printing and more. The American Library Association’s mission states that libraries that libraries enhance learning and provide “access to information for all.”¹ Like libraries, the core mission of community colleges is to level the playing field for their users.

Community colleges have a unique place in the higher education landscape, and need to understand their role in leveling the playing field for their students.² Community colleges offer local access to higher education to anyone interested in gaining a credential, learning a trade, or pursuing a personal interest.³ Community colleges offer this to their communities without the social, physical or economic barriers of other institutions of higher education.

Community college students often have additional challenges, including working full-time, caring for family members, learning English as their second language, or attending college as first-generation college students. Traditionally, the college library seeks to mitigate some of these barriers. In her research on community college libraries, Chelsea Contrada speaks of these barriers, stating that, “social justice is a core value of community colleges.”⁴ Community college students come to college with their own set of challenges, and can be best served if their colleges understand their needs.⁵ Community college students are often members of underrepresented groups; they are often working, first-in-college, resource limited, caregivers, New Americans/ESL students, food and/or housing insecure, and racial and ethnic minorities—or a combination for two or more of these. In addition, community college students often experience the effects of the digital divide, with limited or no access to internet or technology. Community colleges have to make their education accessible, flexible and affordable. Community college libraries can serve their students by providing additional resources—such as technology loans—for their students.

The need for convenient, user-friendly technology and resources is not limited to community colleges. Johnson found that the need for convenient technology loans was greater with commuter students, non-traditional students and working students, even at a residential university.⁶ Johnstone reminds us that libraries often already loan other devices; moving from loaning a book to assistive technology to laptops is not a big leap.⁷ Understanding the needs of the students and having working technology are essential to a successful tech program.⁸ Helping students get what they need can be simple, such as a streamlined checkout procedure for laptops or self-service kiosks.⁹

Students perform better when they have the tools and resources available to complete their studies—and libraries are poised in that gap to assist them with these resources.

Technology is an equity issue

Community colleges seek to serve their students where they are, and Brightpoint Community College is no exception. Brightpoint Community College is the third-largest community college in Virginia, with a full-time enrollment of nearly 5,000 and a headcount of nearly 12,000. The college’s service area encompasses six counties and three cities. The college has two suburban campuses, and each campus offers a library.

Students come from a mix of suburban, urban and rural areas, with the majority from suburban localities. The college serves a commuter population and offers technical programs like welding and nursing, and transfer programs like English and engineering. The college also offers certificate programs, and both concurrent and dual enrollment for high school students. At Brightpoint Community College, 36% of students transfer to a four-year school after completing their associate’s degree.

The college’s students are diverse; the student population includes working students, parenting students, English as a Second Language students, first-generation students, resource-limited students, racial and ethnic minorities and other underrepresented groups. The student demographics reflect the college’s service area, with 22% African American, 12% Hispanic and 4% Asian.¹⁰ At Brightpoint Community College, 54% of students are considered under-represented populations, meaning they are non-white, over the age of 25, from a locality that reports low college attainment rates, or Pell Grant recipients.¹¹ Often, students have limited budgets and limited access to transportation; the service area is car-dependent. The college’s students often have many challenges to overcome when reaching for their academic goals.

Pre-pandemic, Brightpoint Libraries were open nearly 70 hours a week to serve students on campus and in person. The libraries provided over 140 desktop computers across two campuses, all networked with printer access. Special software, such as Creative Cloud and AutoDesk, was provided for students in classes that required these programs. However, not all students could come to campus during even these extended hours, and these hours did not allow the library to serve all students needs and schedules. When speaking with students, library staff realized that for many, the only computer and internet access outside of the library was via their phone. Many students reported researching, writing and submitting assignments using only their smartphone. If a student had the tools they needed to complete their academic projects—like a working laptop—wouldn’t they have more chance of being successful?

Brightpoint Libraries and the digital divide

Brightpoint Libraries seeks to serve students with the support they need and meet students where they are. There are two campus libraries, one on each campus, and each offers desktop computers, free printing, and a print and digital collection selected to support the curriculum. The library is a member of various consortia, including the Virginia Community College System and the Virtual Library of Virginia, which offers combined buying power and allows the library to offer robust research resources to our students while still staying within budget.

Like many academic libraries, the library loans more than just books. The Library of Things had long loaned assistive technology for students, medical models for student study, and calculators for students in specific classes. Though students requested laptop loans year after year, college administrators were skeptical about loaning expensive devices to students living off campus until the need was critical during the pandemic.

In 2018, Brightpoint Libraries won a Brightpoint Foundation Grant for the purchase of 10 Chromebooks, and began an extended loan program of these devices to our students. This pilot program built the framework for the laptop loan program with communication, policies, and online forms needed to make the program successful. Through this pilot, the library loaned Chromebooks to students for 3–5 days at a time. This program was very popular, and students continued to ask for longer loans and more robust devices.

In March 2020 as the world was facing a pandemic, the college’s IT department offered the library outdated laptops to loan to students in need. IT had laptops that were shortlisted to be surplus or taken out of use because of the devices’ age and condition. These were moved to the library and were loaned using the policies and framework of the existing Chromebook program. The library had everything in place, and quickly loaned all of the devices to students in need. The demand kept coming.

They really like us!

The library loaner program, which started as an emergency initiative, has now expanded to 700+ devices in circulation. The laptops continue to be the most requested device, with 520 loans in 2023 and 921 laptop loans in 2024. Demand for laptops increased 77% from 2023 to 2024. Laptops are loaned for the entire semester and can be renewed/borrowed as long as the student is enrolled.

However, with any emergency initiative, it feels much like flying the plane while building it—and now, making it sustainable. Years later, the library is now putting in place the funding, policies and staffing that go beyond the library to make this a sustainable program. The need for technology is not going away.

To support the program, the Libraries shifted a full-time position to manage the technology loan program. The program requires human resources across departments, campuses and both libraries to be successful.

Based on the success of this program, the college began the Device for Every Student program collegewide. This allowed moveable furniture to be purchased for college classrooms and the removal of most of the classroom desktops. Now, classroom furniture can be moved based on the needs of instruction The reduction of desktop computers on campus also lessened the workload for the college’s overextended IT department. Students are strongly encouraged to bring their own device, or borrow one for the semester from the library. Three years after the laptop loaner program began, students were allowed to purchase their own device with financial aid through the college bookstore.

Brightpoint Community College focuses on enrollment, retention, and credential attainment to measure success. Brightpoint students who borrowed a laptop from the library showed increased success across these metrics.

Retention rates improved for students who borrowed a library laptop. Term-to-term retention improved 6.1% for students that borrowed a library laptop, as shown in Table 1. Year-to-year retention increased 7.1% in students borrowing a library laptop. Credential attainment increased 11% in students with a library laptop.

Technology access is an equity issue. The library laptop program helped a greater percentage of resource-limited and students from racial and ethnic minorities. In summer of 2024, 49% of students borrowing a library laptop were Pell recipients, versus 22% of Pell recipients in the general college population.¹¹ In the summer of 2024, 61% of students borrowing a laptop identified as a person of color, versus 49% in the larger college population, as shown in Table 2.¹² Brightpoint’s laptop loan program counters the disproportionate gap in digital access for these underserved groups.

Brightpoint students appreciate the laptop program in many ways. In fall of 2024, a survey was sent to students who borrowed a library laptop in 2023 and 2024. In the survey, 97% of the respondents were Very Satisfied or Satisfied with their loan, and 100% said the laptop was Very Helpful or Helpful in achieving their academic goals.

Students commented on the ease of borrowing the device, the reality of not being able to purchase their own device, and the crucial role the device played in their academic success.

Positive comments included:

• I would want future students to know that the process to loan library laptops is super easy and doesn’t take much time. The library laptop loan has helped me so much with doing classwork. They have multiple types of laptops that you can use depending on the requirements of your classes.

• Good program for people who can’t afford their own.

• This program was a life saver, because I would not be able to take classes without it.

• I am grateful for having the opportunity to use the laptop for homework.

• The loan of the laptop was a very easy process. I really enjoy using the loaned library from the library, it saved me a lot of money so I can attend school.

Students also had requests for improvements in Brightpoint’s device loaner program. Students requested longer laptop loans, and that the library offer data hotspots. Some students commented that the battery life of the device was not adequate. Others wanted the ability to renew the device for more than two semesters. Students also commented that they wanted administrative rights to the device, to allow them to load programs on the laptops.

Both qualitative and quantitative assessments point to the success of this program. The success measures are greater for resources-limited and students of racial and ethnic minorities.

Yes, we can!

Students who have the tools to succeed are more likely to be successful. Brightpoint Community College’s Library Loaner program provided the tools needed for students to be successful. Closing the equity gap with technology and resources is what libraries do, especially in community college where the focus is on access and equity. Brightpoint Libraries saw profound, measurable improvements across the 5 years of this program, and it continues to show positive results. Though the program requires an institutional commitment to budget, equipment, and human resources, it pays dividends to our students. Bridging the Digital Divide’s device program allows students to reach their goals. Institutions that serve under-resourced students should consider implementing technology loan programs to drive student success.

Competing Interests

The author has no competing interests to declare.