Digital poverty in the COVID-19 crisis: Report of the response of a UK further education college library

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to summarise the response of an academic library in the UK to digital poverty in the COVID-19 crisis. This focuses on the distribution of laptops and dongles to support learners access online sessions and resources. The article reports from the perspective of the Head of Library Service during the project. The article is a short communication which describes what the Library did to distribute equipment during the COVID-19 crisis, in response to a strategic shift to blended learning. The article highlights the effects of digital poverty on education and learning, and how the distribution of over 600 laptops helped address this in our context. The situation forced the Library to innovate with how it organised collections and to adapt our delivery to different groups. The Library worked to develop new ways to hold the data in a more robust way, in order to improve reporting and intelligence. The article presents evidence from learners on the impact of the project on them. The author acknowledges shortcomings in the initial stages of the project and offers some reflections. This was a complex project in a crisis which showcased the value and impact of a library in a crisis. The article highlights how the initial crisis response became part of business as usual when the crisis had passed.