Washington County Public Library Receives $10,000 Grant

Photo: Staff and patrons of Washington County Library

In January of 2012 the Washington County Public library received a $10,000 Field of Interest Grant from the Community Foundation to fund upgrades to its Wi-Fi infrastructure. The grant will allow the Library to push its current Wi-Fi signal throughout its indoors facility and up to 100 - 150 yards in the areas directly surrounding the facility.

Washington County is in an economically underdeveloped area with a population of 17,581 and 27% of the children under the age of 18 live in poverty.  Computers and internet access are luxuries few can afford in this county. The Washington County Public Library is the only location in the county where citizens can access computers with free Internet, reports Ms. Jessica Ross, Director.  She also tells us that their computers have logged over 20,000 users last year proving a service that is sorely needed.

Man using Wi-Fi to search internet

With the Wi-Fi upgrade, Ms. Ross continues, we will be able to expand access to high speed Wi-Fi throughout our meeting rooms, parking lot, and the surrounding area. “The grant will allow people to better access high speed Internet service free of charge…and will be a huge help to students, visitors on business trips, and all other patrons needing immediate access to the Internet when the library is closed. The grant will allow all our citizens the ability to download valuable information from the Internet”.

The Community Foundation of South Alabama is pleased to be a part of the much needed expansion of internet services at the Washington County Public Library and looks forward to partnering with them on future projects.