PUEBLO — The Pueblo City-County Library just received a $500,000 grant from the federal government to expand internet access across the city. That means they purchased 500 laptops, 100 iPads, and nearly 300 mobile hotspots. Library cardholders can walk in and check them out for up to one year.
"The good news about that is it serves Pueblo, pueblo's needs, we know that Pueblo's not as connected as some cities in Colorado," says
Executive Director Sherri Baca.
According to Broadbandnow.com, there are 2,000 houses in Pueblo without access to wired internet, and 11,000 houses don't have access
to wired internet that's at least 25mbps.
Baca says that having internet access is indispensable in our modern-day life. It can people help pay bills, learn new things, find a job, improve their skills, find entertainment, and countless other uses.
"The public library provides access to information which I've spent many years working in the human services realm, and I believe that information access is a human right, everyone deserves the opportunity to connect into digital resources," says Baca.
Jasmine Saxon and Jessica Ericsson are the owners of Community Connections LLC, a small business in the archeology field hoping to discover new things in Colorado. For them, going out to the dig sites can be difficult for processing their research.
"We've definitely had to, I know I have, had to go to the tiny little library in this mountain town, and hopefully the coffee shop is open," said
Ericsson.
"We go out and record everything, and we have to come back and that's why we're here in the library today to do that research," continued Saxon.
The two plan on utilizing the mobile hotspots to help with their time in the field.
"I think it would take out those steps all the time and just really allow us to have a holistic research process out in the field, which would be fabulous," says Saxon.
If you'd like to register to become a Pueblo Library cardholder, you can visit their websitehere.
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