Since the start of the new year, the Salinas Public Library has been helping families connect to the Internet, or when needed, increase their broadband capacity to facilitate remote learning.  By working with local schools to identify students in need of help, the library has been able to make an impact on the broader issues of equal access to the Internet, and address the digital divide.   

"We're delighted to be able to ramp up this service and offer it now to the general public," says Mila Rianto, Deputy Librarian.  "We would like this to become one more essential service the library offers the community."  Students in the library's Literacy Program have been using the hotspots as well as library-issued Chromebooks to facilitate remote computer literacy instruction. 

This program has been supported by a grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fund of the Community Foundation which has provided two years of funding. 

This program begins Monday, May 17th, 2021.  Hotspots can be borrowed by full-service adult library cardholders in good standing. Hotspots can be requested in person or online through the library catalog, and picked up at any of our library locations. The lending period for the hotspot is 30 days, with two renewals if there are no holds on the item. Only one hotspot can be checked out per household. 

For more information, please call the Salinas Public Library at (831) 758-7311.