money Here's how Fayetteville State will use a $20K grant to give students access to laptops
The library at Fayetteville State University will receive a $20,000 grant from the American Library Association to purchase nearly a dozen laptops for students to checkout for long-term use, according to an FSU news release.
“We have students who don’t have a laptop and need them,” said Lawrence Treadwell, the FSU director of library services.
Students will be able to check out the laptops in-person or online for up to one month, depending on the demand, he said.
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Treadwell said the grant is part of a $1.5 million COVID-19 relief initiative that benefits about 75 libraries across the U.S.
“Fortunately for us, we were one of the libraries that were selected,” he said.
The FSU library will use $15,000 to purchase the laptops and about $5,000 will go toward purchasing the software, Treadwell said. The program should be up and running by mid-fall, he said.
“Our hope is to be able to provide laptops that will improve student success,” Treadwell said, noting that students who don't have laptops struggle to complete homework.
This grant fills an important gap, he said.
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“It’s important to have the library resources because students can’t afford to purchase everything themselves,” he said.
Library resources
The Charles W. Chesnutt Library at FSU also provides resources to students such as study rooms for group and individual use; phone, email, chat or in-person research assistance and research instruction.
The library’s digital collection includes more than 500,000 e-books and 400 different databases, Treadwell said.
“We are always adding to our digital collection,” he said.
Among the improvements is a new website that now makes research services easier to use, an improvement requested by students, he said.
Health and education writer Ariana-Jasmine Castrellon can be reached at acastrellon@gannett.com or 910-486-3561.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville State University American Library Association grant $20k
