Susan Adrian won’t be buying an iPad anytime soon.
She made the decision over the summer after participating in the iPad Learn and Loan program at West Vancouver Memorial Library.
“I was looking for two things: tell me how to do things I don’t know how to do, and am I going to want to buy one of these?” says Adrian of why she registered for the program.
A home business owner, Adrian says she was debating between getting a laptop computer or an iPad when she saw a flyer at the library about the Learn and Loan program.
“With so much technology, you buy it without knowing if you’re ever going to use it and I thought what an ideal way to figure that out,” she says.
The library started offering its Learn and Loan program in 2015 for people who are new to tablets or are considering buying one and want to try out the technology first.
The program is offered once a month and consists of two hours of hands-on instruction and then each participant is allowed to take an iPad home with them for two weeks.
“It was amazing actually,” says Adrian of the experience. “It was excellent instruction. It was really good.”
She also enjoyed the opportunity to take an iPad home and try it out for a couple of weeks.
“I like to figure things out for myself because you learn the logic of something when you figure things out for yourself,” she notes. “You can really make it your own. You can completely personalize it. I thought it was fantastic.”
After using the iPad for two weeks, Adrian decided a laptop would better suit her needs because it has some different features that aren’t offered by an iPad.
Participants in the program span a wide range of experience and ability when it comes to computers in general and tablets in particular.
“Some of these people have never used a computer before and we take them right from that point to being comfortable online and being able to find the resources they need online and connect with family and friends on the tablet,” says Sue Kent, web co-ordinator at the West Vancouver library. “For most of them it’s a brand new interface.”
Most of the participants are people who have heard about tablets and want to try one out without the sales pressure they might encounter if they asked questions at a store, explains Sarah Felkar, digital access librarian
The library has been offering basic computer classes since the late 1990s, and it remains a popular course. She notes that they still have patrons who have never used a computer before.
“It’s great that we can still offer such a core skill to new people especially as more information is only available online.”
The use of technology in the library wasn’t a subject that came up much before the 1980s, explains Kent. That’s when a new online catalogue was introduced, replacing the old card catalogues, and the library offered courses on how to use the new system.
Since then, more and more classes and programs have been added, making technology an important part of what the library offers.
As well as educational and instructional courses, the library started a Kindle borrowing program in 2010, and now also has more than 17,000 eBooks that can be borrowed just like print books.
In September, the library announced cardholders can now borrow video tablets preloaded with popular online streaming services, such as Netflix, as well as downloaded videos that don’t require a connection to the Internet.
Social media is also in the mix, and Felkar says not only does the library use popular social media, such as Instagram, they also teach people how to use it.
She calls the library programs a jumping off point for learning, and notes the unique position the library is in to offer information and education for free to people of all ages.
“There is no other place in the community really where people can come and learn,” she says.
