- Jan 2024
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human.libretexts.org human.libretexts.org
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I have a personal computer and/or smartphone with a data plan and internet access.
This is not true for absolutely everyone. I have seen students that soley use paper and pen because they do not have the money to purchase their own computer/tablet. For a lot of students, the only computer access available for them is in their local/college library.
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My professors often provide students with the full text to course readings.
So far, all of my professors in college have provided the full text that relates to the course.
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My college library hasn't had major budget cuts.
Although this is a college example, my high school actually had a problem regarding this. They funded sports way more than the library causing a decline in good, new, and useful information that was available for students.
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I am able to purchase textbooks for all of my courses.
Some students are not able to purchase their own, brand new book. Great alternative options to get a book is to buy one that is used or see if there is an online version of the book available.
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had lots of books at home.
I actually did not have that many books at my house beside the ones I would buy or bring home from the school library.
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My high school prepared me for college-level research (example: citing sources, plagiarism, finding & evaluating sources).
In my case, the high school did a great job of this. They offered all classes we could take at that time from the community college. Also, every senior class receives aide from the senior sponsors and the counselor to figure out what college/university/immediate job a student wanted, so when we graduated, life would not hit us as hard as it could have.
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human.libretexts.org human.libretexts.org
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I thought you might be interested in how much the Los Rios Community College District pays for students to have access to the library's research databases and other library resources.
I believe a lot of colleges have enough money to support all students so they can access a free library.
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Students, even those in high school, enjoy information privileges that aren't afforded to the general public. This graphic created by Duke University Library helps you understand this privilege more fully:
This graph is a great example of what most kids are offered and how privilaged they actually are. Sadly, this is not the case for everyone where money may be an issue or if the place they live is extremely deteriorating.
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What is relatively new is that librarians and others are critically talking about it as it relates to higher education.
What exactly are they discussing relating to this topic?
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This is why librarians and your instructors are constantly asking you to take advantage of your academic privilege by using the library databases.
I personally still enjoy going into the library to find great books I can use and cite in a paper, or even to study and further my knowledge of a new subject.
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The good news is that academics, librarians, and even the government are pushing for more open access to academic material.
At SPC, I think all books required for classes are already included in the tuition a student pays at the beginning of the year/each semester. The books are all available online ready at any time.
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When we're submerged in this kind of environment, it's sometimes easy to forget that what's known as the digital divide still exists.
Since most all Americans have their own personal phone with unlimited data, it is easy to forget that a lot of other countries do not have this luxary, therefore creating an unfortunate divide.
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human.libretexts.org human.libretexts.org
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6 billion people live without broadband 4 billion people live without internet 2 billion people live without mobile phones 0.4 billion people live without a digital signal 60% of the world's population is offline
These are very scary statistics.
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