Research Notes Before and During COVID-19 on Digital Inequity

Prior to COVID-19, I interviewed individuals experiencing the digital divide phenomenon and were also avid public library users. I learned that their public library supported their needs on a daily basis. Whether they were receiving assistance on searching for jobs online, completing school assignments in a learning management site, writing fictional stories, attending a technology training workshop, or applying for subsidized housing online, participants recounted their stories and purposes in using the public library’s technology resources. However, I also discovered that there were limitations to their access. Two types of constraints crystallized: circumstantial and institutional. The main difference between these two types of constraints is that one can be changed and the other cannot be changed. Since the emergence of COVID-19, many institutions have been temporarily closed. These changes invited further constraints to accessing important technology resources quite inevitably. However, some libraries have kept their Wi-Fi on which enables their users to access the Internet through their own devices in the library’s parking lot or nearby surroundings.

[Raymond Pun is Instruction/Research Librarian, Alder Graduate School of Education, California]