People lined up this morning at the Sioux City Public Library to bring the internet to their homes free of charge.
Today library director Helen Rigdon kicked on the Internet for All initiative after receiving more than one million dollars in funding from the federal Emergency Connectivity Program.
Rigdon says the ability to check out routers, computers, and IPads at the library is invaluable for the many families who live below the poverty line in Woodbury County. She adds that, for kids in school, access to the internet is vital.
I know that the school provides laptops for kids now, but they don’t provide an internet connection, so even the families that might have the devices don’t have the internet.
Rigdon also noted that older residents are isolated, in part, because they face challenges accessing the internet.
Chris Kuchta of the Connections Area Agency on Aging agrees, saying seniors need to stay in touch with benefits providers in a world where a paper copy just won’t work.
For example, the rental reimbursement, there are very few paper copies out there anymore, so those folks have to go to the internet and use those, and that’s a low-income program. So they’re again in that quandary. Do I buy my food and medication, or have internet service in my home? So this will help them with that.
Kuchta adds that Connections will use computers and routers to help older residents with the technology and give them a feeling of competence with it.
Which isn’t so much about comfort level and being able to use those technologies in everyday life. So going on to be using applications or staying safe online. So we will be going into many of those topics and using Chromebooks and IPads.
All Sioux City residents with a Sioux City Public Library card in good standing are eligible to check out an internet-enabled device from the library while supplies last. You can check out a router for 12 months and then bring it back and possibly renew it. You can check out a Chromebook or an IPad for three months before you need to bring it back in person for the renewal.
If you need a library card, just bring a photo ID to any of the library branches to apply. For more information, go to Siouxcitylibrary.org/services.
