This week, the Kitchener Public Library became the first library system in Canada to offer its patrons the opportunity to borrow devices that act as WiFi hotspots.
Available to anyone that’s over the age of 18 and has a library card, the devices can be taken out from the library at no cost and be kept for a period of three weeks. Each device offers unlimited Internet access, and can be used anywhere there’s a signal from a Rogers Wireless cellphone tower.
The WiFi hotspots have become a quick hit. In their first day of availability, KPL patrons burrowed 10 of the 19 available devices by early afternoon. Should they bring them back late, there’s a $1 per day overdue fee.
Of course, the devices are of little to use to someone without access to a laptop or mobile device, something Lesa Balch, the library’s senior manager of service development, acknowledges and says the library is working on. But there’s no discounting the fact this is great initiative.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Nick Stanley.
[source]The Record[/source]
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