WebJunction - Wireless Success Stories

The Carrollton Public Library in conjunction with the City's IT Partner, ACS Inc., installed wireless access to the Internet for patrons in 2004. We used funds from the Texas Loan Star Grant to pay for the equipment. Our big selling point was that we could not afford any more public computers and this would allow people who had their own computers to use them and free up our computers for folks who don't. We have 90 public computers in two locations and there is always a line in the evening. Now I see people with their own laptops all around the library.

We posted the requirements for making a connection and have had relatively no trouble at all. Patrons who have laptops with wireless cards seem to know how to make them work. We also have live wall jacks in the study rooms for folks who have Ethernet cards and connection cords.

Since the wireless access and the Ethernet connections on the public side of the network go straight to our DSL line, we seem to have reduced the anxiety about security and have had no unwanted intrusions. The only drawback to this is that personal laptop users cannot print in the library from their own computers.

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