St. Louis County students were left without resources for continuing education following March 2020 school closures. The already stark digital inequities in the region were compounded by the pandemic — a March 2020 survey by St. Louis County Library found that over 10,000 households in St. Louis County lacked internet access. As the lead agency for remote learning/technology on the COVID-19 regional response team, SLCL was tasked with garnering resources for students and educators.

The library surveyed all schools in the region on their remote learning/technology needs and then communicated with many local ISPs, state/local educators and state/local governments to determine a stopgap measure for the lack of broadband access. While no quick fix was forthcoming, SLCL was able to provide 221 PBS Playtime Pads to early childhood centers in two high-need school districts. The educational tablets come preloaded with educational material for elementary students, requiring no internet connection to use.

A month after distributing the tablets to schools, the library surveyed caretakers and educators. Over 80% of caretakers found the tablets were easy for their children to use, and 75% of educators reported their students showed an increased interest in reading, science and engineering. The St. Louis Community Foundation recognized SLCL with a $25,000 grant for this work: “We appreciate the incredible work that [SLCL] has done [...] to secure technology for children to be able to learn at home.”