Morgan Hill
– Patrons of the county libraries in Morgan Hill and Gilroy will
have access to wireless Internet service beginning in March.
Morgan Hill – Patrons of the county libraries in Morgan Hill and Gilroy will have access to wireless Internet service beginning in March.
Sally Leete, the adult program librarian in Gilroy, said the service will expand the libraries’ ability to offer not only Internet service, but also make it easier for patrons to access research journals and databases.
“This is great,” Leete said. “Even here in Gilroy we get many people asking for this. This is just another example of the county being responsive to patrons’ needs.”
Officials with Morgan Hill’s library were out of town and could not be reached for comment.
The service will be available at all eight Santa Clara County libraries and accessible from laptops, PDAs and other mobile devices. The funds for the system – about $100,000 to install and $15,000 annually to operate – will come from the parcel tax measure approved by county voters in May.
“That measure was for books and materials and we see this as an extension of our collection,” County Librarian Melinda Cervantes said, adding that the wireless service offers access to a large number of downloadable audio and ebooks, as well as an array of magazine and journal subscriptions.
“We have a lot of requests from our patrons who are used to this kind of service elsewhere,” she said. “And this frees up Internet terminals for the public who need to use our equipment.”
Cervantes said the new wireless access is emblematic of the service that helps the library system earn consistently high rankings in the Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings.
In the recent ratings, the county placed in the top 100 of the more than 9,000 libraries evaluated. The county placed second in its population category, after four years in the top spot.
Cervantes noted the winning library system, in Maryland, had recently come down from a higher population bracket and said the county’s rank was hurt by budget cuts that forced libraries to close Mondays last year.
Matt King covers Morgan Hill and Santa Clara County for The Times. Reach him at 779-4106 ext. 201 or mk***@*************es.com.
