The internet! We’re all essentially controlled by it like a bunch of worthless junkies, which means that we’re resigned to paying for it. What if you didn’t have to pay for it though, and enrich the likes of James Dolan, wouldn’t that be great? Well, pay your late fees at the library then, because according to amNewYork, the New York Public Library will lend wifi hotspots to patrons starting this September.
The program, which is nothing if not a way for the library to remain relevant in an age when people don’t care for books, is being helped along with a $500,000 grant that the Library just won. They’ll use the half a million bucks to fund a program that will lend out hotspots for patrons’ phones and computers for up to a year. So just like when you use your phone as a wifi hotspot when Optimum somehow manages to drop your service for the fifth time in a day, but you don’t have to worry about the hotspot melting like you do with your phone.
Of course, it might be tough for you to just walk into a library and ask them for some internet. The library is starting out with a batch of 10,000 hotspots to loan out, and while that sounds like a lot, you have to remember that eight million people live here. The program is also being targeted at low-income New Yorkers who don’t have access to to broadband, but if you can make a convincing case that you’re always choosing between groceries and sweet, life-giving internet, it couldn’t hurt to start putting it together now.