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Vt. libraries get tech boost, improve connectivity

New video conferencing systems will connect 14 libraries to the rest of the world

Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vt., checked out the systems at a demonstration in Montpelier Tuesday.
Jack Thurston/NECN
Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vt., checked out the systems at a demonstration in Montpelier Tuesday.
SOURCE: Jack Thurston/NECN
Vt. libraries get tech boost, improve connectivity
New video conferencing systems will connect 14 libraries to the rest of the world

"I wish we had more," said library director Rubi Simon, describing the banks of computers inside the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vt. "The more computers we put [in our computer center], the more demand we get."

Simon said public access to high-speed internet is now a top driver of traffic at the library. Library estimates put yearly computer use at 60,000 sessions, and Wi-Fi log-ins at more than 20,000 sessions, in a small city that is home to just 40,000 people. "It would be a whole different place without technology," Simon said of Burlington's library.

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Now, Fletcher Free and 13 other Vermont libraries statewide have new gadgets that connect them to cameras all over the world. They are video conferencing systems paid for with a $77,000 grant from Google.

"Getting around in Vermont can be tough," said Google community affairs director Matt Dunne in a press release. "These videoconferencing facilities in our libraries are a natural fit. They allow Vermonters to connect with one another without lengthy drive-times. They also allow Vermonters to connect with the diverse cultural offerings that exist outside our borders."

Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vt., checked out the systems at a demonstration in Montpelier Tuesday morning and predicted they will give folks who may not have access to fancy set-ups, or the space to use them, a way to plug into lectures, demonstrations, and long-distance conversations from these community hubs. "Making [public libraries] more relevant in the future and the present is so important," Scott said.

Vermont State Librarian Marty Reid told New England Cable News that computer labs, loans of e-books, and patrons who want help evaluating info from the web have kept Vermont library usage high.

Reid added that she believes the printed page will be around for a long, long time, but she knows librarians have to stay nimble to provide what communities need. That's often electronic, she noted. "I think the global access is exciting," Reid said of the video conferencing systems. "Libraries now have a foot in the print world and a foot in the digital world. There's going to be a time when libraries need less and less space for books."

Library patron Amos Page told NECN the computers are what drew him to the Fletcher Free Library, to work on a resume for his job search. "They really keep up technologically," Page said of the library's offerings. "I don't have a printer at home so this helps me out a lot."

That idea of greater access is what libraries have always been about. Now they're still finding new ways to keep delivering accessibility, in the digital age.

The 14 Vermont libraries that received video conferencing systems through the Google grant to the Vt. Dept. of Libraries are:

  • Martha Canfield Library, Arlington
  • Midstate Library Service Center, Berlin
  • Bradford Public Library, Bradford
  • Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro
  • Fletcher Free Library Burlington
  • Cobleigh Public Library, Lyndonville
  • Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury
  • Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier
  • Centennial Library, Morrisville
  • Goodrich Memorial Library, Newport
  • Rutland Free Library, Rutland
  • St Albans Free Library, St Albans
  • Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston
  • Norman Williams Library, Woodstock

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