NYC public libraries to offer portable WiFi units

December 2, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

A rendering of the new Brooklyn Heights library by the developer Hudson Co. Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Public Library

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Public libraries in New York City will be making about 10,000 portable Wi-Fi units available for their patrons.

The New York Times says the free program will start later this month at branches of the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library and the Queens Library.

The program is intended largely for the estimated 2.5 million New York City residents who don’t have the Internet at home.

The potential borrowers will include library members in adult learning programs and English-language courses.

Brooklyn Public Library will be loaning out the WiFi devices in various ways — through adult education, ESOL and citizenship prep programs, and also by targeting branches in communities that suffer most from the digital divide. At those locations, patrons without broadband at home can sign up for workshops on how to get connected, and get the devices for one year.

The initiative is partly funded with a $1 million donation from Google Inc.

It expands on a 100-unit pilot program that the New York Public Library tested over the past six months.

—The Associated Press

Additional information from Brooklyn Public Library