Scholarship & Research
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Item Digital Equity & Inclusion Strategies for Libraries: Promoting Student Success for All Learners(The International Journal of Information, Diversity, and Inclusion (IJIDI), 2021-07) Frank, Jacqueline; Salsbury, Meghan; McKelvey, Hannah; McLain, RachelleStudent success in higher education depends on access to digital resources and services, and today's students rely heavily on the library to facilitate that access. Reliance on digital library resources and services surged in March 2020, when many U.S. higher education institutions moved to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This move exposed a lack of awareness about the ongoing digital divide in higher education in Montana, a rural state with a small population located in the Western U.S., and the underestimation of how student success would be affected in an online learning environment. Many students do not have a computer or device with internet access, or access to reliable, high-speed internet. These barriers inhibit students from experiencing digital equity and inclusion in the realm of remote learning. This article discusses the impact on students, and how librarians working at Montana State University are working to address challenges and advance digital equity and inclusion in their state. It demonstrates how access, or lack of access to resources impacts digital inclusion and digital equity, including personal device ownership, access to the internet or cell service, the ability of libraries to implement remote authentication methods, and digital accessibility. The article shares perspectives and strategies from librarians working in public services and instruction, acquisitions, and electronic resources management, and how they are working together to promote digital equity and inclusion and increase the accessibility of library resources in their community.Item Bridging the Digital Divide: Wi-Fi Hot Spots as a Means of Digital Equity(2022-01) Salsbury, Meghan; Hansen, Mary AnneMany areas of the United States still fall short of digital equity and inclusion, defined as the ability of individuals to access and use information and communication technologies to participate fully in society, democracy, and the economy.1 This is especially true in Montana, the authors’ rural state. Only 63.6 percent of Montana citizens have broadband access, and the average cost of the Internet is $91.54 per month—the third highest in the nation.2 The seven American Indian reservations in the state face even more barriers to access, with some having as low as 23 percent of the population with access to broadband.3 The lack of high-speed Internet coupled with the increase of remote learning (and remote work) added stress to many college and university students’ lives as they struggled to complete their coursework during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though no campus entity gathers information about student Internet access, the Montana State University Office of Planning & Analysis reports that 61 percent of the university’s students are Montana residents, and so many face access challenges similar to the rest of the state’s population.4 To ease the digital divide and improve students’ academic success, two Montana State University librarians wrote a successful grant proposal to purchase Wi-Fi hot spots to loan to students with poor or no Internet access. The hot spots were offered to students with high need on medium to long-term checkouts and were initially marketed to programs and services on campus that work closely with underrepresented students.