Letter to the Editor: Library's laptops missing key features

Dear Editor:

The world seems to run on Zoom meetings these days, and when two doctors and a potential employer requested them, I figured I needed to find somewhere that had better technology than my house, because my computer does not have a webcam (hey, i bought it before the pandemic!).

I was very disappointed to learn that despite spending over $4 million in taypayer money, the Downey Public Library, which has replaced plenty of books with things like 3-D printing labs, does not offer its citizens the ability to conduct a simple Zoom meeting.

It’s true, they have dozens of laptops available for rental, but they have also manually disabled the microphones, rendering them useless for a call.

It’s also less than ideal that very few library workers are made aware of this, and instead assured me multiple times that I would be able to use Zoom for my interview.

Rhianan Thomas
Downey