Media Lending At Chabot College,

by Kim Morrison (Chabot)

At Chabot Community College I saw a media need and began to fill it with grant money that purchased 2 laptops for 2 hour in library use.  Our media lending library has extended to iPads, Go-pro cameras, digital cameras, Nikon black & white 35 millimeter cameras, voice recorders, pocket projectors, video recorders, telescopes, calculators, molecular models and many more laptops—all  can be checked out for up to 3 days at a time.  After surveying and keeping track of students participating in our laptop loaner program--we have been fortunate to be awarded 30,000 in Equity Funding to increase our laptop holdings.  Most if not all of the surveyed identified as students of color.  With increased advertisement and word of mouth our media loaning program is so popular we never have enough supply for the shown need.

We as Community College librarians can play an important part in providing loaner media in our audiovisual departments.  In thinking “out of the media loaning box” I’d like to soon be able to loan out, musical instruments, Internet hotspots, art paintbrushes, easels and other items to help our students thrive with access to the media tools they require.

Chabot College has recently installed an area in the library where our community can come together to make, share and learn together.  This make, learn share space also hosts story-time for our early childhood development program. Soon we will have a drop-in story time for students with children that need an hour to research, or work on homework.  We invite surrounding community members to come and teach a craft, teach day of the dead skull decorating, teach the games of chess, dominos, and bid wiz, teach jewelry making, origami, and 3d printing, just to name a few activities.

In providing the resources and space mentioned above Chabot College Library is not only on the way to being a central meeting place on our campus, but also a place supplying the media our students need.