Just when it appeared that libraries were becoming cobwebbed relics of another century, Google and the New York City libraries have come up with a great idea: They’re expanding the reach of wireless networks by allowing patrons to check out portable wireless Internet hubs free of charge.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “The program … will offer about 10,000 Wi-Fi units through branches of the New York Public Library, the Queens Library and the Brooklyn Public Library, funded partly with a $1 million donation from Google Inc.”
This is just another step in New York City’s rapidly evolving plan to bring municipal wifi to all its citizens. Just last month it announced plans to bridge the Digital Divide between rich and poor by eliminating most of the city’s pay phones and replacing them with 10,000 stationary wireless hot spot kiosks that will allow residents to access the internet and make free phone calls.
New York Public Library President Anthony Marx seems committed to making libraries relevant in the new digital age. He’s also increased the number of e-books offered by public library branches in Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx.
“At every branch you walk into, every computer is being used all the time,” the Journal quotes Marx as saying. “As more and more of what the library offers moves online, it became obvious that there was a problem.”
We tend to think that everyone is online these days, but that’s just not true. In the Big Apple, for example, it has been estimated that as many as 2.5 million city residents don’t have access to the internet at home.
It’s not because they don’t want internet; It’s because they can’t afford internet.
New York’s plan is flexible, so checking a portable internet hub out of one branch may have different eligibility requirements than checking it out of another branch. And unlike books, which are checked out for a standard number of days, the length of time a patron can keep a hub will also vary from branch to branch depending on how many units each branch carries and on local demand for the units. The hubs, officials assume, will be in high demand among residents who lack home internet access, and those in adult learning programs and English language courses. (Editor’s note: Although it wasn’t mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article, we’d be very surprised if the highest demand isn’t among students who need internet access to complete their homework.)
Google and a consortium of non-profit groups are helping the city fund this effort. In addition to Google’s $1 million donation, the non-profits have added another $500,000 to this groundbreaking public-private partnership. The program’s first year budget is $2.6 million, which means taxpayers will be on the hook for just $1.1 million.
This is, we think, exactly the type of public-private partnership that need to be expanded into cities across the nation. Of course, it’s always to Google’s advantage to get more people online to use its services, so its participation certainly doesn’t come without a potential payoff down the line.
Nevertheless, we congratulate and thank Google and all the other public-minded corporations and non-profits who stick their necks out and contribute their cash to make programs like this possible.
Source: WSJ
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