This morning while burning through RSS feeds, I came across a post from a developer who wanted to remind their customers about educational licensing for their product. Educational licensing is nothing new; many software companies and hardware manufactures offer discounts not only to students, but to K-12 and post-secondary teachers. It’s a great benefit, and it’s one I’ve taken advantage of once or twice because the hubster is a student.
But it got me wondering: why aren’t such discounts made available to public librarians and library staff?
Many libraries offer training programs to the public. We teach courses on computer and information literacy and search strategies; in fact, if you’re a public librarian, chances are library instruction is a large part of your day to day responsibilities.
Yet I haven’t been able to find a single developer or hardware manufacturer who offers a discount for public library staff. Some public libraries are able to individually make deals with hardware manufacturers like Dell so that their employees can get discounts, but this practice isn’t as widespread as it should be.
I’m not only advocating this idea because I’m flat broke and I could use some new hardware and software. And some might say that the Gates Foundation takes care of whatever computing needs public libraries might have. That may be true about the computers that are used in the workplace and public service areas, but what if a librarian wants to use a different platform or operating system?
Librarians are technologists, too. We use technology to deliver programs and services to our patrons, just like teachers and university professors use technology to deliver lessons to their students. Technology manufacturers are missing out on a huge and untapped market by ignoring the computing needs of librarians and library staff. I think that making these discounts available to public library staff is long overdue.
Until the practice becomes more widespread, the next time you’re about to make a hardware or software purchase, ask the manufacturer whether you qualify for academic pricing. If they say no, push back and ask why not. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. While you may get a few ‘no’ answers initially, keep pushing. Librarians are a tenacious lot, and if enough of us start asking the question, perhaps more technology manufacturers will rethink their policies.