Library offers new Wi-Fi service, but few take advantage
By Betsy Avelar
Gilroy – Rogelio Delgado sat in one of the chairs of the Gilroy library waiting for a computer to use the Internet. Like Delgado, many other Gilroy residents wait in line to use the computers and know nothing about the new Wi-Fi service, or wireless Internet that the library has to offer.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” said Delgado who comes every day to the library to use the Internet.
Wi-Fi enables users to access the Internet through wireless signals received via special “cards” in their laptop computers. Most laptops today are sold with Wi-Fi access capability. Instead of waiting for a computer to free up, users like Delgado can bring in their laptops and begin surfing the ‘Net right away.
The service was installed two months ago at all eight sites in the Santa Clara County library system. Wi-Fi was included in the library master plan drafted in 2003, said Melinda Cervantes, head of the regional library system. But the failure of a bond measure in 2004 postponed the program. In 2005 the measure was presented again and passed, enabling the program to begin. Cervantes said officials estimate it cost $100,000 to install Wi-Fi at all eight branches, followed by annual expenses of $15,000 to maintain the entire system.
Publicizing the service is something Cervantes is working toward. Gilroy is presently averaging two Wi-Fi users a day.
“It’s a very new service; people are still discovering it. Most Wi-Fi users are pretty adept at finding hot spots,” said Cervantes said about the wireless transmission sites, dubbed hot-spots. Press releases were sent out and an article was mailed to every home in the county she added.
But Gilroy Librarian Lani Yoshimura said it is not unusual for such few people to use the service.
“I think if you go to other spots in Gilroy where Wi-Fi is accessible, there are not a lot of people using it there, either. I think people still have stationary computers that they use at home,” said Yoshimura.
The $15,000 price tag to maintain the service is more cost efficient than purchasing more computers because of the limited space in the library, Yoshimura said.
“We don’t have space, so we probably at this point can’t add anymore computers,” she said. “(Wi-Fi) is free ranging and people can use it.”
Gilroy’s library was built in 1974 and encompasses 12,800 square feet. Like every other library site, there are two or three Wi-Fi access points for each site.
The wireless connections currently offered by the library filters inappropriate Web sites on computers in the children’s section, but allows computer users in the adult section to opt out of the filtered version.
“I think it’s a great service. For us it’s nice because it doesn’t tie up our computers, and we don’t have to manage whatever (users) are doing,” said Yoshimura.
Betsy Avelar attends Gavilan College and is an intern for The South Valley Newspapers. Reach her at (408) 847-7216 or ba*****@************ch.edu.
