Libraries fight digital divide by loaning internet access via Wi-Fi hot spots

TORONTO — Two years after running a pilot project to assess whether there was a demand for letting library users “borrow” internet access, the Toronto Public Library has decided the answer is a resounding yes.

The library recently expanded the project fivefold from its modest beginnings, with up to 1,000 library users and their families now getting free, unlimited access to the internet at their homes for six months via a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Toronto is one of a number of cities across Canada where library systems have embraced the trend of providing short-term internet access for users, with Wi-Fi hot spot loan periods ranging from a couple of weeks to half a year.

While some libraries lend the devices out to anyone who requests one — some want a hot spot to get online during long drives, trips to the cottage or other areas where a user has limited or no access to an internet connection — others have invested in the devices to help address the digital divide. That’s the case in Toronto, where the lending program is linked to the city’s poverty reduction strategy.

“Our goal is to provide some community support and a community option for folks who don’t have (internet access) while we await bigger government policy decisions around affordable access,” said Pam Ryan, director of service development and innovation at the Toronto Public Library.

“Libraries that are doing the longer period of time are hoping to make some substantive changes in people’s lives in terms of the outcomes we’re looking for. So we’re looking for folks who can be job searching for that period of time, who can be working through course work.”

A past survey of users who borrowed a hot spot found more than half had a household income that was less than $20,000, about 80 per cent said they did not have internet access at home because they could not afford it, and nearly two-thirds said the library was their only source of connectivity.

“There’s themes of social inclusion,” Ryan said of feedback the library received from users. “Folks being able to access what we take for granted.”

The Edmonton Public Library will soon mark two years of lending out Wi-Fi hot spots with a similar mission. The program started with three-week loan terms before expanding to three months.

“It’s to provide internet access to Edmontonians who do not have access in their own homes and who are potentially socioeconomically disadvantaged and or have low digital literacy skills,” said Vicky Varga, a manager with the Edmonton Public Library. “

Varga acknowledged the program did need to be tweaked as the library’s 40 hot spots were sometimes being lent out to users who wanted them to supplement their own data plans.

The library refocussed its efforts on lending the hot spots in areas with lower average household incomes and did outreach to identify library users who could benefit from the service most. When some users said they did not have a computer, phone or tablet, the library invested in low-cost Chromebook laptops to lend out as well.