The Jackson-Madison County Library together with the Jackson Housing Authority and Jackson Energy Authority will announce a new partnership that will bring free WiFi to three public housing communities at an event at 2 p.m. at the office building at Lincoln Courts, located at 217A Lincoln Circle on Thurs., Aug. 13, according to a Monday news release.
Free public WiFi has been installed in the community rooms at Lincoln Courts, Washington-Douglas and Kingfield apartments. Networking equipment was purchased by the Library through a technology grant made possible by the Tennessee State Library and Archives. JHA purchased several desktop computers for each space and JEA is providing the Internet service. The Internet will be filtered through the Library’s servers, making the access compliant with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, an important factor when serving children and youth.
“We have been working on this project for over a year, so we are excited to see it finally come together,” said Dinah Harris, Library Director. “This project allows us to open our digital doors to a wider population and serves as an example of how the library can truly exist beyond our physical walls. We greatly appreciate the partnership with JHA and JEA to make this possible.”
The computers in these community rooms can be used for school-aged kids for tutoring and homework. JHA plans to have staff in the room to assist these students during certain hours. Adults can use the space for job searches, creating resumes and accessing government services. Anyone with a smart device will be able to connect to the WiFi inside the building as well. By connecting the service to the library’s network, users can access the wealth of educational and job-related resources offered by the library.
The Jackson-Madison County Library is located at 433 E. Lafayette St. in downtown Jackson and the North Branch is located at 8 Stonebridge Blvd next to China Pan Buffet. For more information, contact the Library at 731-425-8600, visit the Library’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/JMCLibrary or its website at www.jmclibrary.org.