One of the things that chapter 11 talks about is adaptive technology. It also discusses assistive technology. I found these terms to be a bit confusing, but the concepts made perfect sense. A library is meant to help its patrons no matter what. It is inexcusable to segregrate or discriminate. If a library does not provide for deaf or blind (for example) patrons then they are losing out.
It is interesting to watch interactions in libraries patrons are at very different places. This is true when considereing the use of computers and reading levels. In both cases practice allows for improvement, but book literacy and computer literacy are two very different ballgames. I've seen the digital divide in action and it's amazing what one generation takes for granted that another may not have even considrered. It would be easy to say that age makes the difference, but that is not the case. While age is a factor another factor is availability. While it is often assumed that students have access to computers and the internet this is not always the case.
You are so right about some students not having access to computers...we had a sad experience this weekend at our library. A student came to the library to do homework and because we were so busy (the computers had waiting lists) the student kept getting logged off after one hour. Our library only allows 3 log-ins a day, and after her 3rd one she was still not finished with her homework, but after one hour she had to get off. I felt so bad for her - but it's an automatic log-off IT set up for the computers and there was nothing we could do!
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