Sebastopol Library gets a laptop kiosk
Patrons can check out laptops for use in the library.
Last Week the Sonoma County Library installed a self-service laptop kiosk at the Sebastopol Library. The kiosk holds 12 full-featured laptops and offers patrons a flexible option for going online anywhere inside the library. The laptops, which are checked out with a library card, are meant for in-library use only.
Sebastopol Librarian Adriel Ahern said this service expands internet access and computer resources to library users; the entire library can now function as a computer lab, instead of requiring patrons to sit in cubicles and use desktop computers.
“We were really limited by our number of computers,” Ahern said. “We often here—but I think at all the branches—tend to fill up because digital access is so important and not everybody has it. So by having laptops available in the branch for people to use, it doubles the number of computers that we have for people and they can use them in different areas.”
“For this branch, especially with the after-school crowd, it gets so loud in here [in the desktop computer area], so now somebody can take a laptop to somewhere else in the library that's a little bit more private or quiet—even across the hall to the meeting room if there are no programs going on in there. It really allows people to create a little bit more of a studious environment.”
The laptops have standard public PC software, including Microsoft Office, but Ahern said most people use cloud-based programs like Google Docs, so they can access their document anywhere. The library does provide free thumb drives so people using Microsoft Office can take their documents with them.
Some kids do their homework at the library, but many also use the new laptops to play games.
“We also just started a game lounge for the kids in the afternoons on Thursdays because it gets really loud in here because they all just want to play Roblox together,” Ahern said. “And we want them to do that because we know that being able to talk to each other while they play is essential. It’s more social, and so on Thursday afternoon, we've moved them over there [to the meeting room across the hall].”
What kind of security measures does the library have in place to insure that someone doesn’t just walk off with a laptop? Ahern said there’s two security measures: the first is that the laptop is automatically connected to the library’s WiFi and will turn off completely when the computer gets out of range. The second safety measure is that people have to use their library card to check out a laptop. If they don’t return it, a $1,000 fee appears on the their library card account.
The Sonoma County Library also installed laptop kiosks at Central Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, and Petaluma libraries.
To learn more about the library’s new self-service laptop kiosks, visit Sonomalibrary.org/Laptops.
