Wonderful Wireless

At the risk of sounding like someone who hasn't been in a library since Junior High, I have to say that wireless Internet access is nothing short of wonderful. I mean, I know about wireless. We have it in the CLC office. We have a discount deal with Spot-On Networks to install it in libraries. Most of the libraries I visit either have it, in at least some part of the library, or are in the process of getting it. And of course, the free citywide access planned for Philadelphia has gotten a lot of press, and I've seen people working wirelessly in NYPL's Bryant Park, and in front of the public library in Chatham, MA. But I had never done it. I had never walked a mile in those moccasins. Last Friday I was at a CLC vendor showcase at Fairfield University Library. I had brought my laptop with me to see if I could fit in some work between presentations, (which I couldn't, of course. Why do we think we can?) I saw a couple of the thirty-something vendors sitting outside the meeting room in comfortable, overstuffed chairs, chatting and checking their e-mail while they were waiting their turn to present. I asked the library's director, Joan Overfield, if the library had wireless access. Of course they do in that beautiful, state-of-the-art college library. Now, I believe in low expectations, especially with technology, so I never thought it would really work for me. I figured that I'd have some hitch in getting connected, or I would need a password, or I wouldn't understand the instructions, but NO! I plugged in my laptop, clicked on "hotspot", typed in "gotomypc.com" and there it was--all my unanswered e-mail! (Of course I only got one reply off before I once again realized what a myth is multitasking, but I could have done it!) I think my colleagues at the showcase were really embarrassed for me the way I kept going on and on about how great is this thing called wireless, since all of them either have it already in their libraries, or have a plan to install it. (They probably even have it at home, where I am getting it next!) To use my computer, I didn't have to take up one of the library's public workstations. I didn't have to sit up straight at a study carrel, and best of all, I didn't have to be quiet! I could sit in a comfortable chair in a sunny spot of my own choosing, and work and talk and embarrass myself. If I am not the only librarian out there who has not already worked on the wonderful wireless, do it! As I recall, it is not even expensive to install, and it adds a whole new dimension to the Internet access we can provide without buying one additional computer!