Free High-Speed Wireless Web Access for Laptops Now Available at New York Public Library Branches

“WiFi” Access to Internet and Library Databases Offered at 58 Libraries in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island

A student tries out the new WiFi connection at the Jefferson Market Branch Library, 425 Avenue of the Americas (at 10th Street). Photo: Larry Petterson.
New York, NY, November 13, 2003 -- Wireless Internet access is now available at 57 New York Public Library locations in the Bronx and Manhattan, plus one in Staten Island. Unlike most other “WiFi” (for “wireless fidelity”) hotspots around the city, the Library’s access points are entirely free to the public. Patrons bringing in their wireless-equipped laptops now have at their fingertips the entire range of full-text databases normally accessible from the Library’s own computers, in addition to the Internet, via the Library’s resource-rich homepage on the Web. The high-speed wireless connections are available at all times the libraries are open. A brochure explaining how to make the connection is available at each WiFi-enabled branch.

Anyone whose laptop PC is equipped with an 802.11b WiFi Ethernet interface card can access the Library’s network from any public area of the branch. All 34 Bronx branches are wireless-equipped, as well as 23 libraries in Manhattan, including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, on Malcolm X Boulevard. (Please see the list for details). The Port Richmond Branch in Staten Island is also WiFi-ready. More branches will be wired and equipped with the appropriate wireless antennae as funding becomes available.

In addition, several libraries, including the Soundview Branch in the Bronx, and the New Amsterdam and Chatham Square libraries in Manhattan, are using WiFi-equipped laptops for PC training as part of the Library’s Click On @ the Library program, which was established to provide free hands-on computer instruction. The Riverdale Branch in the Bronx will also lend wireless laptops to library cardholders for half-hour sessions in the library, when it reopens.

The Wireless Library User: Available Services and Resources
Logging into the Library’s website (www.nypl.org) allows the wireless laptop user to access both the Internet at large and the Library’s many licensed databases in wide-ranging subject areas. These include more than 9,000 full-text periodicals, newspapers, encyclopedias, and photo archives in the fields of art, business, education, literature, health, and science. The Library’s website also has a link to its Digital Collections, which contain many unique materials of value to students, artists, scholars, and educators through thousands of images, searchable manuscript collection guides, and full-text documents. The wireless can browse the Library’s catalogs, place or cancel holds, and check the status of his borrower’s account at the Library.

Other great resources include “Ask a Librarian Online,” a reference service for Library cardholders, who can ask basic questions online and receive answers via e-mail or via live chat (weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). The services are also available in Spanish (¡Información en Vivo!), and there are links to the Library’s special pages for teens (TeenLink) and children (“On-Lion” for Kids).

Funding
The telecommunications wiring and the wireless equipment have been funded through the Federal Universal Services Discount (USD) program that supports telecommunications projects for schools and libraries in low-income areas that qualify based on public school district demographics.

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Contact: Tina Hoerenz 212.221.7676


WiFi-Equipped New York Public Library Branches

Bronx Branches
Allerton, 2740 Barnes Avenue, 718-881-4240 (closed for renovation)
Baychester, 2049 Asch Loop North, 718-379-6700
Belmont, 610 East 186th Street, 718-933-6410
Castle Hill, 947 Castle Hill Avenue, 718-824-3838
City Island, 320 City Island Avenue, 718-885-1703
Clason’s Point, 1215 Morrison Avenue, 718-842-1235
Eastchester, 1385 East Gun Hill Road, 718-653-3292
Edenwald, 1255 East 233rd Street, 718-798-3355
Fordham Library Center, 2556 Bainbridge Avenue, 718-579-4244
Francis Martin, 2150 University Avenue, 718-295-5287
Grand Concourse, 155 East 173rd Street, 718-583-6611
High Bridge, 78 West 168th Street, 718-293-7800
Hunt’s Point, 877 Southern Boulevard, 718-617-0338
Jerome Park, 118 Eames Place, 718-549-5200
Kingsbridge, 280 West 231st Street, 718-548-5656
Melrose, 910 Morris Avenue, 718-588-0110
Morrisania, 610 East 169th Street, 718-589-9268
Mosholu, 285 East 205th Street, 718-882-8239
Mott Haven, 321 East 140th Street, 718-665-4878
Parkchester, 1985 Westchester Avenue, 718-829-7830 (closed for renovation)
Pelham Bay, 3060 Middletown Road, 718-792-6744
Riverdale, 5540 Mosholu Avenue, 718-549-1212 (closed for renovation)
Sedgwick, 1701 University Avenue, 718-731-2074
Soundview, 660 Soundview Avenue, 718-589-0880
Spuyten Duyvil, 650 West 235th Street, 718-796-1202
Throg’s Neck, 3025 Cross Bronx Expressway Extension, 718-792-2612
Tremont, 1866 Washington Avenue, 718-299-5177
Van Cortlandt, 3874 Sedgwick Avenue, 718-543-5150
Van Nest, 2147 Barnes Avenue, 718-829-5864
Wakefield, 4100 Lowerre Place, 718-652-4663
Westchester Square, 2521 Glebe Avenue, 718-863-0436
West Farms, 2085 Honeywell Avenue, 718-367-5376
Woodlawn, 4355 Katonah Avenue, 718-519-9627
Woodstock, 761 East 160th Street, 718-665-6255

Manhattan Branches
115th Street, 203 West 115th Street, 212-666-9393 (closed for renovation)
125th Street, 224 East 125th Street, 212-534-5050
Aguilar, 174 East 110th Street, 212-534-2930
Chatham Square, 33 East Broadway, 212-964-6598
Countee Cullen, 104 West 136th Street, 212-491-2070
Donnell Library Center, 20 West 53rd Street, 212-621-0618 (WiFi available on First Floor and Mezzanine)
Fort Washington, 535 West 179th Street, 212-927-3533
George Bruce, 518 West 125th Street, 212-662-9727
Hamilton Fish Park, 415 East Houston Street, 212-673-2290
Hamilton Grange, 503 West 145th Street, 212-926-2147 (closed for renovation)
Harlem, 9 West 124th Street, 212-348-5620
Hudson Park, 66 Leroy Street, 212-243-6876
Inwood, 4790 Broadway, 212-942-2445
Jefferson Market, 425 Avenue of Americas (at 10th Street), 212-243-4334
Macomb’s Bridge, 2650 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard, 212-281-4900
Mid-Manhattan Library, 455 Fifth Avenue, 212-340-0833 (WiFi available on 4th Floor)
New Amsterdam, 9 Murray Street, 212-732-8186
Ottendorfer, 135 Second Avenue, 212-674-0947
Roosevelt Island, 524 Main Street, 212-308-6243
Seward Park, 192 East Broadway, 212-477-6770 (closed for renovation)
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, 212-491-2200
Tompkins Square, 331 East 10th Street, 212-228-4747
Washington Heights, 1000 Street Nicholas Avenue, 212-923-6054

Staten Island Branches
Port Richmond Branch, 75 Bennett Street, 718-442-0158

 

Last update: 01-28-04

 

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