Loaner AND Keeper Chromebooks (and Calculators and Portable Monitors): Digital Champion Grant Update

Submitted by Durham Tech Library on

In December 2025, the Durham Tech Library began distributing "keeper" Chromebooks to qualifying students as the final part of our NC DIT Digital Champion Grant.

Our first sixteen students who have picked up their keeper Chromebook (and the others who have qualified) expressed interest in the program on their intake or renewal form, demonstrated need by borrowing a loaner laptop for two terms or more, and met progression goals according to their program.

Qualifying students turned in their loaner laptop for a new-in-the-box HP Fortis Chromebook, laptop sleeve, and jazzy USB drive. Keeper Chromebooks have a 3-year warranty to provide students additional support with their new machine.

Students also completed a "Getting to Know Your Chromebook" tutorial (available to anyone with a Durham Tech username and password on Canvas).

The Keeper Chromebook Program will continue until the end of 2026 or when allocated funds run out.

And--as always-- any student who needs to borrow a loaner laptop to complete their coursework may apply using the application on the Computer Assistance Request page [link under text]. All programs are eligible to borrow, including Continuing Education.

More about the grant funding this initiative and the loaner technology programs in the Durham Tech Library--

In July 2024, the Durham Tech Library was awarded a Digital Champion Grant through the North Carolina Department of Information Technology to meet four primary digital access goals:

  1. support our loaner laptop program by updating an aging Chromebook collection and allowing the purchase of a few additional PC laptops for students enrolled in classes that require them;
  2. expand technology available for checkout, including digital cameras, video conferencing tools (webcams, headsets, microphones), and--most notably--calculators (graphing and scientific);
  3. create a "Getting to Know Your Chromebook" tutorial to support student learning and digital literacy;
  4. and distribute keeper Chromebooks to students who have demonstrated need through two semesters of borrowing a loaner laptop and have met completion SAP or meeting other program-specific progress goals.

Funds were distributed late in 2024, so Spring 2025 was the first semester we were able to begin implementation of most of our project goals.

In 2020 and 2021, the Library began a HEERF grant-funded Chromebook lending program to meet an urgent need during COVID. The program originally consisted of 65 Acer Chromebooks and 190 small Dell Chromebooks. After 4 years of hard work, the original Chromebooks are out-of-warranty and many are no longer working; all stopped accepting updates in 2024. In addition to aging loaner Chromebooks, demand exponentially increased. In Fall 2020, we had 58 borrowers; in Fall 2025, we had over 400 borrowers.

So far, the Library has added 180 new Chromebooks to the circulating collection, 20 new PC laptops, and over 100 graphing and scientific calculators, almost all of which have been checked out--we have a few calculators added last semester that haven't been checked out yet, a welcome change from running out of inventory.

Calculators are the library's second-most circulated technology collection. In Fall 2022, the Library began lending 25 TI-84 graphing calculators to students for the whole semester if they were enrolled in a Durham Tech MAT 152 or higher thanks to a partnership with the Math Department funded by the Durham Tech Foundation.

After several years of low circulation where 25 was enough to meet demand, Fall 2024 saw an explosion of demand. To meet the needs of chemistry, biology, and all other students, we also added scientific calculators. In total, we now lend out over 200 TI-30 and TI-84 calculators per semester, including semester-long loans and short-term usually test day loans.

For more information about our loaner calculators, check out our information page for calculator lending: TI-84 and Calculator Borrowing [link under text].

We have also been able to support our loaner Tech Tools [link to catalog under text].

We have purchased a few digital cameras to meet student demand, some additional headsets and headphones, and keeping up with cable and cords (both new and replacements), and we've recently added a small set of in-library only portable monitors for borrowing.

Check them out (literally--with a library account and your photo ID) at the Circulation Desk at the Main Campus Library.

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durham tech library