Wireless system lets library users get on the move

Caitlin Hudgins

Friday, Aug. 6, 2004 | 4:55 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

August 7 - 8, 2004

Beginning last Sunday, Henderson library users stopped feeling so tied down.

With an active Henderson district public library card, a PIN number, a wireless card and a laptop, visitors to Paseo Verde and Gibson libraries can now surf the Web, e-mail their relatives or chat with their friends without connecting their machines to anything but their laps.

When the Paseo Verde library opened about two years ago, the building offered Ethernet ports, but since the portable computers have become less expensive and more wireless-friendly, there has been an increasing demand for a cable-free network, Henderson District Public Libraries Executive Director Thomas Fay said.

"Since Day One, patrons have been asking for wireless access," Fay said.

About nine months ago the two Henderson libraries started planning the construction of "Hawkspots" (Henderson Access to a World of Knowledge), which allow library users to access the Internet without plugging in their laptops. Paseo Verde and Gibson placed access points throughout their complexes, resulting in a reliable signal in all of the buildings and even in the parking lot, information technology manager Sean Hill said.

"It's just a little more convenient with the wireless," he said.

The libraries' technology supplies all three standards of wireless access so that all users can connect to the network sans wires, Hill said.

"No matter what (type of equipment) patrons have, they can access the Internet," Hill said.

Henderson's new capabilities are attracting a variety of users, Fay said.

Businesspersons use the network to check their e-mail en route to meetings. Students wander the stacks, laptops in hand, in search of books that match reference numbers displayed right on their screens. And eventually library staff will go about their jobs without being bound to their desks.

The networks are a draw both for those with Internet access at home and for those without such capabilities, Fay said.

Parents who are already connected at home can come to the library to surf the Web in peace and quiet, and college students who can't afford Internet bills can chat online free of charge, at least until January.

Paseo Verde's hardware cost about $2,000 to install, and Fay plans to gather data about extra charges over the next few months, including costs for maintenance and a possible bandwidth increase. Eventually, the libraries will charge their wireless network users a per-use or per-month fee, he said.

The libraries can't always guarantee their patrons free wireless Internet access, and they can't always promise a safe connection.

"You can make it (a wireless network) really secure, but you can never make it as secure as wired," a PC Club technician said. "There is heavy encryption, but anyone with a computer can access the network."

Even though the library's network is separate from other wireless connections, Hill recommends that patrons protect their laptops with basic safety programs.

"No matter where you go, you should have an anti-virus program and personal firewalls," he said.

The advantages of not being wired to a carrel, however, seem to outweigh the fear of possible hackers.

"A library's primary business is to provide information," Fay said. "It (a wireless network) offers another way for people to get information."