Full Description
How can libraries ensure that patrons from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds have access to advanced technology training and hardware? Everyone knows libraries provide access to computers and the internet for day to day use, but many libraries have gone beyond those basic services. Makerspaces and advanced tech training are often not equitably distributed between differing communities. The digital divide is still very real, and by not providing equal access to maker spaces and other similar services libraries may be unintentionally contributing to that divide.
This book examines how the unequal distribution of resources between communities can limit access to emerging technologies. Chapters from librarians across the country give real world examples of libraries going the extra mile to bring more than just email access to their communities, regardless of economic status or geographic distribution.
You'll find practical plans put forward by working professionals who have sought pragmatic solutions to issues of digital literacy. Access is a through line in this work as people look at the larger ideas of access as inclusive of training, diverse technologies, and the time and space to make genuine growth in tech literacy.
Chapters include:
·working with immigrants,
·low cost laptops for library use,
·deep dives into the underpinnings of the maker movement, and
·developing community-focused technology training.
After reading this book, librarians should have practical ideas to address the issue of equity in access to emerging technologies in their own communities.
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part 1: Identifying the problem
Introduction - Digital Equity in Libraries
Lauren Comito
Chapter 1: Fund All the Things: Finding Money to Do Great Work
Erica Freudenberger
Part 2: Physical Access
Chapter 2: Technology on the Border: Bringing STEAM-Based Learning and Digital Technologies to Southern Arizona
Emily Scherer
Chapter 3: Linux Laptops for Libraries
Alex Lent
Chapter 4: Shifting Focus Toward Imminent Needs: The Importance of Flexibility in Digital Literacy Training to Teens Within the Maker Movement
Ricci Yuhico
Part 3: Training
Chapter 5: Cracking the Code: The IMLS/Mozilla Web Literacy for Library Staff Project
Davis Erin Anderson
Chapter 6: You Can Do I.T.: Raising Tech Confidence and Competencies in Rural Texas
Carson Block, Cindy Fisher, and Henry Stokes
Chapter 7: Experiment, Learn, Respond at the Salt Lake City Public Library: The First Year of the Tech League Initiative
Tommy Hamby, Shauna Edson, and Elaine Stehel
Part 4: Makerspaces
Chapter 8: The Best Things Made in a Makerspace, Aren't the Physical Ones
Steve Teeri
Chapter 9: Library Makerspaces and Interest-Based Learning as Tools for Digital Equity
Lyndsey Runyan
Chapter 10: Improving Education with Library STEM Programs and Access to New Technologies
Maria Mucino
Part 5: Technology for Employment and Business
Chapter 11: Evolution of Community Services in Saint Paul
Rebecca Ryan and Pang Yang
Chapter 12: Creative Opportunity for All: Makerspaces for Youth and Adult Workforce Populations in an Urban Setting
Amanda Feist, Katrina Hartz Taylor, and Xenia Hernández
Chapter 13: Learning from Our Community - Using an Assessment Tool to Meet Patrons at the Point of Need
Amy Honisett, Gloria Jacobs, Judy Anderson, Jill Castek, Cindy Gibbon, and Matthew Timberlake
About the Editor and Contributors
Index
