Free Wifi in Sydney Libraries
Free Wifi in Sydney Libraries
February 18, 2008: The City of Sydney libraries in Glebe, Customs House, Newtown, Ultimo and Haymarket are all up and running with free wireless internet access in a trial designed to test the waters of a European-style implementation on Australian shores.
"Wi-fi in public libraries is now common in Europe but has not been picked up significantly in Australia,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore, MP.
Moore explains that the libraries have been receiving a lot of positive feedback from the initial phases of the trial, especially from the younger demographic, “In the first week of the trial alone we had more than 200 different people accessing the service,” She said.
"Once the trial concludes at the end of February City staff will conduct an evaluation which will include a customer survey, the amount of band connection used and numbers of people accessing the service.”
As part of the feedback process, notices and evaluation surveys have been translated into Chinese for Haymarket and Ultimo libraries, which Moore explains is to ensure the Chinese speaking community is aware of the trial.
Wireless internet has become somewhat of a sore point amongst Sydney residents, particularly since the Iemma Government has thus far been unable to deliver on their election promise of providing free wifi access to the inner city areas of Sydney and Parramatta. The project is running 12 months behind schedule and according to a spokesman for the NSW Department of Commerce talking to The Australian are still finialising the evaluation of the 15 expressions of interest received, "Due to the diversity and complexity of the proposals ... the evaluation has taken longer than originally expected," he said.