The State of Wireless Laptop Lending Programs: A Survey of Academic Libraries

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The State of Wireless Laptop Lending Programs
A Survey of Academic Libraries
New Jersey Library Association 2008 Annual
Conference Long Branch, NJ

• Ma Lei Hsieh
• Monmouth University
• West Long Branch, NJ

• Hugh Holden
• Piedmont College
• Demorest, GA

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The Purpose of This Study Was To Investigate

• Lending laptop services (LLS) in academic
  libraries
• Relevance of the service to students
• Problems librarians experienced
• Implications for those libraries evaluating or
  planning for an LLS

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Contents

• Methodology
• History of LLS in academic libraries
• Findings
• Conclusions

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Methodology

• PHP Surveyor (Open Source)
• Librarians reached through 19 listservs
• Libraries of all sizes
• 228 respondents

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Lending Laptop Services (LLS) Findings
of the 2005 Survey

• This service became noticeably popular
  after 1998.
• Growth did not take off until 2002.
• Of the academic librarians surveyed
• ? 79 said their libraries had an LLS.
• ? 86 of their libraries offered Wireless
  access for students own laptops.

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Number of Lending Laptops in Academic Libraries
The number of laptops owned ranged
from 0-120 laptops with large
variation.
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Did lending decline after wireless access was
extended to students own laptops?

• 59 of surveyed librarians said that laptop
  lending increased after wireless access was
  extended.

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Technical Difficulties

• Of these three areas
• Laptop
• Hot spot
• Network
• The laptop was most likely to be the source of
  problems.

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What technical issues aggravated librarians most?

• Short battery life
• Slow network connections

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A Question on Lending Policy
Q. Does your library allow its laptops to be
taken out of the library?
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Lending Laptops at Multiple Locations to Meet
Demand

• U. of Missouri doesnt allow laptops out of
  the buildings but makes them available at more
  locations
• ? Library
• ? Dorms
• ? Classrooms
• ? Student center

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• Are library lending laptops made
• redundant by the growth of student
• laptop ownership?

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2006 ECAR Study

• 75 of surveyed college students own laptops.
• 98 of college students own a PC.
• Laptop computers are preferred by college
  students

ECAR Education Center for Applied Research,
Boulder, CO
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An Observation from A Surveyed Librarian

• In spite of the laptop requirement for all
  students on our campus, many students still are
  not accustomed to taking their laptops with them
  everywhere they go.

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A 2007 Study Supports Our Findings

• Librarians at the University of Rochester
  found, in a detailed study of student study
  habits, that students dont like to carry their
  laptops.

Foster and Gibbons, Studying Students The
Undergraduate Research Project at the University
of Rochester, ACRL, 2007, http//www.ala.org/ala/a
crl/acrlpubs/downloadables/Foster-Gibbons_cmpd.pdf
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Cost Effective?

• 27 of the surveyed librarians believed that a
  laptop service is more expensive than desktops,
• Though the literature says it saves money.
• Neither the literature nor the librarians
  provided hard data.
• This is an area ripe for further study.

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Conclusions

• At the time of the study, LLS concept was still
  growing and very popular.
• Technical difficulties were still common and even
  hampering attempts at installation.
• But as the technology becomes ever more reliable
  and

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Conclusions (continued)

• Wireless access in libraries approaches 100,
  then
• Academic libraries that choose to provide this
  service will be obligated to also provide
• ? Adequate technical support and
• ? Regular updates to the technology

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???????(Questions?)
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Holden, Hugh Hsieh, Ma Lei. The State of
Wireless Laptop Lending Programs A Survey of
Academic Libraries, coauthored with Hugh Holden,
Library Hi Tech, 252, pp. 260-274, 2007.