Meredith College’s Carlyle Campbell Library has received a grant that expands the number of laptops available to support student needs. 

The “Digital Inclusion for High Need Students” grant from the State Library of North Carolina funded the purchase of 17 laptops that were added to the library’s pool of computers available for loan to students in need. 

“The grant establishes an extended loan pool that will support students with a computer crisis, which could include underpowered computers, broken computers, transportation problems, or courses that require a different laptop platform,” said Laura Davidson, dean of library information services.

Computers would be loaned to students for up to a full academic semester. These students would also be connected with the Office of Student Success & Advising for support in resolving their crisis.

The need for an extended lending program was confirmed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased online academic activities for most students. The library was able to provide a limited computer loan option to support student participation in online classes and to meet computing needs within specific courses. The new grant expanded the number of computers available and helped the library establish a long-term program.

This project was supported by grant funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (IMLS grant number LS-250229-OLS-21).