For students who forget their Chromebooks or fail to charge them, the library has 30 loaners in stock for those students to use.

But there’s a problem. Some students don’t return the computers.

“What happens is students borrow them and don’t return them, and then we don’t have enough for the kids that really need them,” Media Clerk Annelise Irick said.

Each Chromebook costs $350, and according to library staff, on average, 20 Chromebook loaners are given per block.

Out of the 20 loaners, about 6-12 won’t be returned.

This may not sound like a lot, but the percentage of Chromebooks missing ranges from 30-60%, which translates to $2,100-$4,200 in missing Chromebooks.

The library staff is then forced to find ways to get the Chromebooks back.

“It’s just annoying. Because we’re supposed to try to get them back, we have to try to track the students down.” Annelise Irick said.

“So it just takes up a lot of our job time trying to call the student down during homeroom or try to call them the next day.”

In the most extreme cases of Chromebook loaner shortages, emails are sent to students saying they couldn’t get a loner because they had to be charged or were missing.