Northwest Library Now Offering Students Wi-Fi Hotspots For Checkout

The Northwest Mississippi Community College library on the Senatobia campus is now offering Wi-Fi hotspots to checkout for students who have no internet access at home. Showing off one of the Wi-Fi devices available for check out is (left to right) Glenn McDowell, system administrator, Maya Berry, digital librarian and Maggie Moran, director of Learning Resources. (Photo by Allen Brewer, Northwest journalism student)

Not every student at Northwest Mississippi Community College has ready access to the internet at home, so the staff of the R.C. Pugh Library is trying to help. The library will soon begin allowing students who have no ready internet access in their homes to check out a Wi-Fi “hotspot” device for the semester.

“The idea came about when we attended the American Library Association (ALA) conference in Orlando last June. We heard about some new ways to help our patrons, and this was one of them,” said Maya Berry, digital librarian.

Berry said that several of the larger public libraries, such as the New York Public Library have pioneered the idea of checking out such hotspots to people who don’t have access in their homes.

After the conference, Maggie Moran, director of Learning Resources asked Glenn McDowell, system administrator, to do some research into the possibility. McDowell discovered an organization called Mobile Beacon (mobilebeacon.org) which would provide 4G LTE hotspots and LTE service at a very reasonable price.

“It is $10 per month for unlimited service, and that was a pretty good deal,” McDowell said.

Mobile Beacon offers a hotspot donation program through TechSoup (techsoup.org) that provides up to 11 LTE devices for free to nonprofits and libraries. Working through the Northwest Foundation, the library was able to get 11 hotspot devices, and paid $1,200 for a year’s worth of unlimited LTE service for 10 devices.

Students who live off campus and need internet access can fill out an application found on the library’s website to check out a hotspot device, Berry said. She noted that since the devices only work on Sprint’s LTE network, users will need to be screened to make sure they live in an area where the devices will work. The devices are not to be used on any Northwest campus, and users must comply with Northwest’s Police for Computing and Code of Student Conduct.

Hotspots can be checked out for up to a semester. Students must sign an agreement form before they can check out a device. Hotspots are available on a first come, first served basis.

“One of the ALA conference speakers, a librarian at the New York Public Library, just happened to mention that she was on the subway and in front of her stood a young woman with one of their library’s hotspots hooked to her smart phone. I came back so excited to see if we could provide this for Northwest, especially the online students, ” Moran said.

For more information on the Northwest library system, visit the college’s website at www.northwestms.edu and for hotspot check out information, contact Berry at 662-560-4204 or email mberry@northwestms.edu.

Courtesy of LaJuan Tallo, Assistant Director of Communications/Public Information for Northwest Mississippi Community College

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