The library’s 10 new mobile Wi-Fi hotspot units will allow people to take free access to the Internet anywhere they go.
All 10 Western Counties Regional Library branches have a unit to borrow, offering 80 GB of data through its connection to an Eastlink cellular tower. The units are in the library’s online catalogue.
“The borrower needs a device, a computer, tablet, phone or Smart TV,” says Shannon Raynard, the library’s training and development manager.
She says a charged, mobile hotspot unit is easy to use. Each unit comes with a user guide to help people connect the device to the Internet. The connecting device does need to have a web browser such as Google, Safari, Opera or Firefox to accept the device’s terms and conditions.
The mobile hotspot unit is small and portable.
Raynard believes there are all kinds of uses for it. It is ideal for those who cannot afford Internet access or people who don’t have immediate access to the Internet because of circumstances such as a recent move.
Borrowers have to be 18 years or older and have a Western Counties Regional Library card. They can borrow a unit for up to three weeks with three renewals if there are no holds on the unit by other people.
“For those who forget to return the device, the library can turn it off,” Raynard says.
The units were provided through a partnership between @NS and Nova Scotia regional libraries. Unlike the library’s initial mobile Wi-Fi units, these devices can access all Canadian content.