Academic libraries have vastly increased their stock of laptops and other mobile computing devices during the pandemic. Does this represent a fundamental shift in computer use in academic libraries, or merely a temporary shift? This study helps answer this question as well as many others. Such as: What is the stock of laptops maintained by academic libraries? How fast has it grown in recent years? What are the plans for the future? Which brands and capabilities are most favored? What is the stock of tablets and how fast has it grown? What about smartphones, wearable computing and other mobile technology – do they have a role in the library? How much are libraries spending on mobile computing and what are their plans for the future? In addition to the data on numbers and spending on various forms of mobile computing, the report looks at the impact on workstation use and deployment, as well as the terms and conditions for lending out mobile computing to students? How long are the typical lending periods? What is the replacement cycle for laptops? What kind of mobile computing technology is issued to library staff.
Just a few of the findings from this comprehensive 80-page report are that:
-
Colleges with fewer than 2000 students provided a mean of 17.75 laptops in the library.
-
The increase in laptop provision in 2021 was much higher for public than private colleges.
-
For private colleges, 69.33% of laptop loans made by libraries to patrons were for one day or less.
-
For community colleges, a mean of 39.88% of staff had a library issued laptop.
-
Community college libraries purchased more tablets than did any other type of college library.
-
For 28.57% of research universities sampled, the replacement cycle for laptops was 3 years.
Data in the report was provided by 46 colleges and universities; data is broken out by size and type of college, by tuition level, and for public and private colleges.