Winnipeg Public Library To Charge for Wi-fi
Jennifer Pinkowski -- Library Journal, 9/18/2007
The Winnipeg Public Library, MB, now offers wi-fi to laptop users—for a price. According to Sam Katz, mayor of Manitoba's capital, the city must charge $3 CDN an hour to laptop users to recoup the $23,000 it spent to install wireless Internet in all 20 library branches (and in the Pan Am Pool). “Winnipeg needs to be, you know, in the modern age,” Katz said at a September 10 news conference, as was reported by CBC News. “We need to be hip, and this is what it’s all about. It’s happening in other cities, and I certainly don’t want us to be the last ones.”However, as the Winnipeg Free Press pointed out, in other cities, wireless at the public library is often free. At WPL, laptop users can get some wireless access, tapping into all library resources, including the catalogue and databases, without cost. But if they want to go online, they must buy a one-hour access code from a library service desk. For now, only one-hour codes are available, and only a single code can be purchased at a time.
The $3 an hour rate is discounted from the $4.95 an hour the exclusive wireless provider, MTS Allstream, normally charges noncustomers. (MTS subscribers pay only $1.50 an hour.) A library FAQ advises laptop users to visit the company's web site for subscription options, which include monthly and hourly plans for access at all MTS wi-fi hotspots, including the library system’s. (See the map.) The FAQ also notes, “MTS Allstream will provide a portion of the revenues back to the City of Winnipeg to support ongoing technology needs and the purchase of library materials.”
