 Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Encompass Live, the Nebraska Library Commission's weekly online event. Celebrating and promoting everything going on with libraries, and I am your host today, Michael Sowers. Krista Burns is off today, and I am here hosting for not only the weekly Encompass Live, but for this month's Tech Talk episode. On Encompass Live, we cover any number of topics ranging from book reviews to what's going on in technology to anything basically we think would be of interest to librarians in Nebraska and around the world. This is a weekly event that is free to attend. Pre-registration is appreciated, but not required, and we do record all of our sessions as we do each week and provide them an archive on our website. This week is, as I mentioned, Tech Talk, and I have two guests available to us today. And just to say we're going to let them each present for a little while, and then if you have any questions during the presentation or afterwards, you can answer them into the questions and answers area of your GoToWebinar interface. Or if you do have a microphone, we would love to hear your dulcet tones for the recording and just raise your hand or put in the questions. I have a microphone on mute me, and I will happily turn on your microphone for that. So I always like to start out just a little bit with kind of some background of why the topic I have for Tech Talk. And in this case, it was about a month or two ago where I was starting to see some posts about libraries around the country starting to provide Wi-Fi hotspots for people to check out and take home. And I've got to admit I was originally kind of confused by this topic because I thought, well, great, I now have a Wi-Fi hotspot, but how do I use it if I don't have an internet connection? So I did a little more research and I figured out it's much cooler than I thought and a great thing to have. So I got with us here two guests this morning. The first one is Laura Marlene. She is the Executive Director of the Providence Community Library in Rhode Island. Laura, can you say hello? Hi. And also we have Catherine Messier, the Managing Director of Mobile Beacon, which is the service that Providence Community Library is using. Good morning, Catherine. Good morning. Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to go ahead and start with Laura. So give me a moment while I switch over to making her the presenter. And she's going to talk to us about what exactly they are doing at their library. And then when she's done, we're going to go ahead and switch over to Catherine. So she can talk about the technology that is being used and how other libraries can participate in this program. So Laura, I do see your desktop. So if you want to go ahead and bring up your slides, you're all good to go. Great. Thank you. Let's see. My name is Laura Marlene. I'm the Director of PCL. We're a five-year-old organization. So our focus is really on building our role in the community as we grow. And we try to be as customer-focused as possible. And to that end, we're always looking for and open to new ways of providing our patrons with the services and resources they need. Given the statistics that we have for Rhode Island, which are from the broadband adoption analysis done by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation in 2012, you can see that while we have a higher rate of broadband adoption in Rhode Island, there is still a segment of the population that does not have access at home. And Providence being one of the core cities with a high rate of poverty, we have quite a few patrons who don't have access to broadband internet in their homes. So they come to the library all the time, and we have over 200 machines across nine libraries, and we are always busy. We use EnvisionWare to track computer sessions, and we've had over 200,000 computer sessions this past fiscal year. So the need is there. We've expanded our Wi-Fi in our buildings to extend outside so that people can access in the lawns around the building or the picnic benches. And we thought that still wasn't enough. So I had seen these devices. I keep one with me to use when I'm out at meetings and don't have access to internet, and they're fantastic. The battery life is really long, and they hold the connection really well in the city. I have found few places in Rhode Island where they don't have quite as strong a signal, but all around the Providence area, we have a really good connection. So we started circulating these in 2012, and even though we advertised them heavily in the buildings, we only started to see use pick up as word of mouth spread. These are the devices. There are some that look slightly different, but they're small. They're easy to use. There's a password on the back so people can connect. And you can see some of our circulation policies. We've come up to 12 devices across three libraries, and we need more. More patrons are coming in and asking for them in our libraries, and we've done surveys of the patrons who've been using them. And we found that the largest, the most prevalent reason they use these is the cost. They can't afford broadband at home. They're connecting with smartphones, laptops, and tablets predominantly, sometimes a PC. And they use the devices so that they can do online classes for work and for school, work from home, and do email, Facebook, and Skype. The strength of the signal is such that you can stream Netflix or actually do Skype, and it maintains a very strong signal. We also have a mobile van that we've put in use. We've only had it for a year, and we bring it to several events throughout the spring, summer, and fall. And we use larger Wi-Fi hotspots so that we can broadcast a signal wherever we go. So if we attend a farmer's market, anybody around the van can pick up a signal on their device. We bring devices with us, iPads, smart books, and people can use them at the van and check their email, things like that. We've also used the iPads to do story times with the kids in the park. So that's been very useful as well. Let me show you. On our website, whoops, where'd it go? That's interesting. Okay, this is our web page where people can check the availability of the devices. We've cataloged them, and they're in our database, so people can check online and see when another one's available. Right now, we don't allow renewals, and that's really what people are asking for. They want the devices for three weeks longer, if possible. And to further support the program, we're also providing classes and training. And there it is. We have a lot of ESL classes, as you can see. We do a lot of computer skills classes in English, and we found that, for some reason, English speakers don't really sign up for computer classes as much as Spanish speakers. Our Spanish computer classes are packed. Our English computer classes aren't, so we've started offering one-on-one computer sessions where people can book time with our trainer, and she'll work with them one-on-one. She's also been doing phone support for eBooks, and we haven't advertised this yet, but for any connection troubles they're having with using the devices. The devices are pretty straightforward. As you can see, I'll go back to that. But some people who aren't as tech-savvy just see this and kind of panic and aren't sure how to use it, so we offer training before they check it out so that they know what to do. We provide them with the cords so they can charge it up if they've run it down. And with the surveys, we've given them coupons to get a free checkout, so we've really been encouraging survey responses, and we've gotten a really good result. Let's see. Right now, we're looking at trying to add more devices at more of our locations, and we found the cost to be very economical. The devices are about $100, and the connection fee is $10 a month. And given the number of checkouts, 12 devices have circulated 275 times since we've started the program. Some of our devices that we added in late May have circulated 12 to 15 times. People really want these, and we're really happy to be able to provide them. And that's it. Great. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and throw in a couple of questions for you right now before we switch over to Catherine, because I've got a couple that I think are specific to your situation, and anybody else who's listening, if you've got questions for Laura, please go ahead and type them in your Q&A or let me know. You've got a microphone. We'll have also plenty of time to take more questions at the end. So just a couple of things that ran across my head, and some of them are going to seem very simple, but I know people would want to know these things based on other sessions we've had. So I'm looking at your webpage here, and you have your late fee and your Dropbox fee, which is great. How often does that actually end up getting, do those fines actually get charged? Are people really good about handing them in and getting them back on time? Well, initially, even though we've told people, the hotspot is essentially a doorstop. If you don't return it, we will call and have it shut down, so you can't use it. We did lose a couple in the beginning. People just didn't bring them back. So they were charged the reconnection fee, which is about $60. And we're pretty flexible. We're not looking to make money off the backs of our patrons. We just want our devices back. So we'll be as accommodating as possible with fines as long as they return the device, but they have had to pay the connection fee. And people have gotten much better about returning them properly, although we did have somebody last week who threw the device in a mailbox. I don't know, it's not like a hotel key. It doesn't get right back to us. We had our name all over it, and they delivered it back to the library. So we did charge the patron for that, because it still works. We're fortunate that it still works, but we really didn't want to endurance test the devices. But otherwise, patrons have been pretty responsible. They have to fill out a form that explains all the rules and that the device has to be returned to a staff person at the library. And they've been complying with that. Great. And kind of related to that, since I see there with the return with... Well, okay, so is it just... there's like a power cord with it? Okay, let me rephrase. What sort of packaging do you have for this that they're taking and are returning? It comes in a small box, and it's all labeled with our name, the library's name. We've got the barcode on the device and on the box, and we have... We've been putting the surveys inside the box. They get the power cord so they can charge it, and there's a brief little paper that tells them how to use it, and it's very straightforward. Once the device is on and picks up a signal, it starts broadcasting, and it's explained on the back of the device. The password for that device is on the back. Each device can service up to five other devices. So laptops, phones, if there are people in a family sitting at a table together, they can all make use of the internet at the same time. Okay. We do have a question from Yanny and our audience about bandwidth, but I'm going to guess that Catherine's going to address that from a more technical standpoint, so I'm going to hold off on that question there. I know, at least if our cataloger who shares the office next door to me was in the room, she would probably be wondering, is there anything especially you had to do for the catalog record, or just pretty much just catalog it as an item, and how do people find it in your catalog? It took a little while to figure out how we were going to do this. We're part of a statewide network as well, and we did not want to send these devices to other libraries in the network because of the cost and the possible damage and delivery. So they can only be used at our locations. Anybody can check one out. If somebody came from another city or town, they could check it out and use it. They just have to return it in person to us, not send it through our delivery system. And it's mostly because we're afraid of the damage. Fair enough. But otherwise, if you click on Check Availability, it'll bring you to where we have them in the catalog, and you can see who's are checked in, who's are checked out, and you can call the library if it's available, and they'll usually hold it for the day. Okay, and I've got to say, I'm just looking down your menu on the left-hand side here, and borrow the internet. I love that. That's spectacular. It's the easiest way to explain it. That is great. No, no, that is absolutely wonderful. And of course, at the bottom, if you watch the IT crowd. Yes. Oh, yeah. Wow, this might be my new current favorite webpage. Okay. Sorry. Let's move that on there just to help people learn about the IT crowd, which is a brilliant show. Yes. Oh, love it. Okay. And one more question for you. This is kind of a bigger question that if you're not prepared to answer, that's fine. You mentioned that Rhode Island seems to have a higher broadband adoption than the national average. And we had somebody from our broadband initiative in the state of Nebraska last week, actually. So we were talking about this. Do you have any sense as to why Rhode Island is above average? Do you get the impression that it's your size, or do you have more competition, or if your answer is no clue, that's fine too? It's definitely our size. Okay. It's been very easy. Well, it's not very easy, but easier than in some states to do fiber optic throughout the state. We've had a few issues with Block Island because it is an island, and that proved to be a challenge, but even they're connected now. It's just Rhode Island small, so it's easy for us to try out things statewide that other states really can't roll out in that fashion. All right. Okay. Thank you for that. And we are going to keep Laura on the line. We're going to go ahead and switch over to Catherine for a few minutes here, who is from Mobile Beacon, who is actually supplying the devices that are being used. So Catherine, I am going to switch over presentation control to you, which you should see on your screen. There you go. Yep. Great. Take it away. Hi, everyone. So I thought I would start off and just talk a little bit about Mobile Beacon because we are not your typical ISP. One of the things that really makes us different is that we are a 501c3 nonprofit organization. So we're mission-oriented. We're not profit-oriented. And the other big differentiator is we are the second largest national educational broadband service license, which educational broadband service, if you're not familiar with it, EBS is a certain band of spectrum that the FCC reserved exclusively to support educational use. And actually on Monday we are going to be celebrating our 25th corporate anniversary, which is very exciting. So we've been doing this for a long time, but our mission has always been to use broadband to help power education. And so schools and libraries have always been a core constituency for us. That mission is really the basis for all of our pricing and programs. And our ultimate goal is to be able to, in partnership with schools and libraries, bring equal educational and digital opportunity to all Americans. So the way that we help is we really see the benefit to overcoming specific challenges. So right now the data shows nationwide about 67% of public libraries are the only source of free internet in their community. And nearly 50% of public libraries say that they lack sufficient internet access to meet their patrons' needs. Another state show by the ALA showed that 88% of state library agencies report that their libraries are going to need more bandwidth within two years. So there are a couple of different challenges out there. And one of them is the fact that we've got 100 million Americans nationwide who don't have internet access at home and we know how they rely on libraries. And the other challenge is that we know that not all libraries are equipped with the bandwidth that they need, let alone the bandwidth that they forecast they are going to need in the future as this demand continues to rise. The way that our service can really help with that is we provide unlimited 4G data plans and they're all $10 a month. So it doesn't matter which device you get, it comes with unlimited data and it's $10 a month. So there's no overage charges, data caps or anything like that that you would need to worry about. The other thing that we did is we launched through TechSoup.org. If you're not familiar with TechSoup, they are a fabulous nonprofit organization that provides a variety of technology resources to other nonprofits. They also have a big library focus. So we're actually the only mobile broadband service provider that's made our devices available as a donation through TechSoup.org's donation program. So libraries can get anywhere between 11 and 26 donated devices per year. So it's a great way to be able to get the devices, try them out initially without incurring too many costs, and then you can expand on that and keep getting new devices every year. So really help build up your own inventory at the most cost-effective way possible. The other thing that really makes this different, I mean there are other programs, especially federal programs like e-rate and other things that also go towards making broadband affordable. But our process is very simple. If you fall in our coverage area and you are a qualified nonprofit or you are a library, you're going to be qualified and eligible to get our service. And so there's no red tape involved. We don't tell you, you have to use it on-site or you have to use it off-site or it's exclusively for you spy students. We really want this to be an inclusive program and we want the nonprofit and library partners that we work with to have total autonomy to decide where the needs are, what they feel comfortable, what kind of programs they want to implement. So it's just you get the devices and the service and you can do what you need with them. Here are the top use cases that we've seen with the libraries that we work with across the country. The one that Laura was specifically talking about is these internet lending programs. This is, I would say, the most popular and it's becoming sort of the hottest trend. We've got other library systems that have been piloting it. New York Public Libraries did a pilot with us over the summer where they had 100 of our Wi-Fi modems that they loaned out to patrons. The structure of the program was a little bit different. Patrons were allowed to keep the modem for two months because it was a summer program. They actually got some really interesting results which I'll share with you. Basically what they found out at the end of the pilot program is that patrons were spending an average of 3.19 hours online per day and usually they were using it during times where the library was closed, so 6 p.m. to midnight. What they noted is that this equates to about 3 hours versus a single 40-minute session that they're able to do at the library during open hours. So it really was a significant benefit. They also tracked and looked at, based on how much data was being used per month, basically they saw traffic levels that were hovering around 9 gigs per household per month, which is significantly more than you could typically get with a commercial data plan that is offering let's say 5 gigs or 10 gig cap at that $10 a month price. It's just not available or the data limit wouldn't accommodate that kind of use. They looked and they saw that the top uses for patrons involved file sharing, social media, YouTube, and just Google web searches. They didn't specifically track educational usage content with 100-unit tasks, but it is something that they plan to do when they expand the program this fall. They're looking at ramping up to 10,000 devices that they would be using through partnership with us and also Sprint. So the details of that are all being finalized, but they definitely have seen the need. They were happy with the results and they saw it as an opportunity to continue to be able to offer that kind of service. Laura also mentioned there's a lot of uses just by staff that make sense off-site. So bringing more library resources out into the community between mobile training labs, bookmobiles, and just other community outreach, being able to sign up patrons for library cards when you're visiting schools or seniors, things like that. In terms of onsite uses, I would say the number one use case is that for $10 a month, you can get an additional internet source. So it's completely separate from your primary connection. So this is a very inexpensive way to be able to set up a backup internet source. So if your primary connection ever failed, you would have that redundancy and hopefully be able to continue to provide access, at least to staff, until everything else was back up and running. The other use case, I would say, is for low balancing the network. So if your bandwidth is already constrained, or at least constrained during peak times, you can use some of the Wi-Fi modems to offload some of that traffic onto a separate network. So it just alleviates some of those capacity issues. So for example, you could create a separate guest network. So your primary connection is using or serving, let's say, the computer lab. But for people who are bringing their own devices into the library, you can have it so that they sign onto the separate network. So you've got less devices and users competing for the same capacity. In terms of the devices that we offer, so there are three. There's the Wi-Fi modem, which I just talked about. This modem is like a typical cable modem that you would get for residential use. What's cool about it is that it's got this integrated Wi-Fi router so you don't need a separate router, so you can use it and just wirelessly connect 10 Wi-Fi devices. It can also be used like a traditional modem where you would, through a CAT5, plug it into a wireless router. And that sort of gets around the number of users restriction. If you're using it with a built-in Wi-Fi router, it will only connect 10 devices. If you plug it into a wireless router, you won't have that constraint, but at the same time, you would want to test and see based on the type of internet use that users are using or what they're expecting if you would want to limit it in one way or another. There's the USB modem, which is a great portable one-to-one connection for a laptop, computer, or PC tablet. And then the mobile hotspot, which I would say, by far and away, is the most popular device because it's like the Wi-Fi modem except it's pocket-sized. So you're able to take it and have that flexibility. You can use it on-site, but you can also use it off-site, and you can connect multiple users and devices. The hotspot connects up to eight Wi-Fi devices. Another is a question earlier about the network. So our network is provided through our commercial partner, ClearWire, and it's the ClearWire 4G YMAX network. So everywhere in their national coverage footprint, our service is available. Their average download speeds are between 3 and 6 megabits per second with their peaks and bursts. They exceed about 10 megabits per second. And as I mentioned, we are always pushing people first to the TechSoup donation program because you can get up to 11 donated 4G devices per year, and that's with the purchase. So it's the device and the shipping cost that's donated, but you would still pay that $10 a month data plan fee for the devices that you choose to get. The other thing that's great about TechSoup's program in the last year, we've restructured it to give people more options. So there are now device donation tiers. So you can start off by just getting a single device donation. So it's a great way to just try to service low risk if it doesn't work out. You have 30 days to decide, send it back, and you would receive a refund. But if you wanted to go up, then you could get either 5 or 10 more in that same fiscal year, which is July 1st through June 30th. And that's it. So if we hear some of our contact information and other ways to follow and keep up to date with different things that are happening with Mobile Beacon, but I'd be happy to answer any questions. Great. Thanks, Katherine. Just to remind our audience at this point, if you have any more questions for either of our presenters, please feel free to submit them to the Q&A, or let me know and I'll turn on your microphone. And I've got a couple specifically for Katherine to get us started. Is there any chance you have a coverage map available? If nothing else, because I'm in Nebraska, we have a lot of space, shall we say? And I was wondering what sort of coverage we would get or some of the Midwestern states that are significantly rural. Yes. So if you just go to clear.com slash coverage, you can check any address or location there. I'm not sure that they have done a commercial launch in Nebraska, but we can double check. Is my screen still being shared? Yes, your screen is still live. Okay. So I will go there real quick. And I just need a street address as a code in Nebraska. Unfortunately, the only one I can think of is in Lincoln, but I'll go ahead. 1200 N Street, Lincoln, Nebraska. 68508. 68508. Okay. So this message is interesting, and it probably is because it's not a commercially deployed area. So it says, you know, we're sorry while clear, while your area is looking clear coverage, we aren't able to sell new service at this time. So if you look at the coverage map, you'll see, you know, green is where there is coverage. Okay. And you'll notice that it's light green. So if you're, I'll just zoom out a little bit more so you can see the full footprint. So it does look like there is some service. The light green is what indicates there's mobile sort of on the street coverage. Right here you can see where the tower is located over here. So it looks like there's basically one tower that's serving that area, and that's why Clear has not decided to commercially sell the service. So if you did get service through us, you could still use it because like I said, anywhere in the clear coverage footprint, there is going to be service. When you see these areas where there's really only one tower and you get a message like that, that's actually kind of interesting because those are areas that they specifically built out for EBS licensees because within our own GSA geographic service areas where we're licensed by the FCC, they had certain build out requirements and needed to help us start to provide service. Usually in these areas it's where it just shows sort of the power of EBS and what its potential is because we've been able to, through these commercial partnerships, start to get access in rural areas and other parts of the countries where otherwise there was just either no incentive or it was cost prohibitive for them to be otherwise. So the coverage has started. The other thing I would say about the coverage footprint is that Clearwire was bought by Sprint. And so Sprint has announced that by the end of 2015 they're going to decommission the YMAX network and roll it into their 4G LTE network. And Sprint has a much more robust coverage footprint. It's more ubiquitous nationwide coverage. And so I would say even if it looks like your area isn't served right now, it should be coming within the year. And we did get a request from one librarian to actually type in another address if you wouldn't mind. Although I don't want to, for interest of time folks, we're not going to do that for everybody. At 401 Avenue A, and the zip code is 68048. And that's going to be a much more rural choice than... Is that okay? It's... Got it. More rural than Lincoln, anyways. Yeah, and this one says Clearwire is not available in your area. So I always zoom out even after that just to see how close the nearest coverage area is. But yeah, this one looks like it's pretty far out. So with the switchover to Sprint, in theory, now we're talking the end of next year. So I realize you can't be too specific. But in theory then it basically would be the same coverage as Sprint's coverage. Well, yes. So that's really the great benefit is that the coverage footprint will become Sprint's national footprint, which is significantly larger than Clearwire's and growing. Okay, great. Now for people who are interested and do have coverage in areas that is immediately available, that's another great reason to make use of the TechSoup donation program because you will get those devices donated so you're not paying for them. Because although we don't know what devices Sprint is going to have that are available next year, devices change all the time, it is a pretty reasonable assumption that you would need to get a new device. So the TechSoup donation program is a great way to offset that because if you're not paying for the device upfront, it can still benefit you for a whole year. You can get a pilot program going. And then when it comes time to replace the device, you can also use TechSoup's donation program to replace them. Sure. Okay. And I think you mentioned this, but just to be clear, since we did get the question earlier, there is no bandwidth limit? Correct. Okay. And is there any limit on what you can do with said bandwidth? No. So we don't place any content restrictions on it either. It's not... And like I said, we don't have rules around who can use it or anything like that. All right. That's all to be set by the nonprofit or library, according to their own programs and guidelines. Okay. If... Okay. I'm going to take this one step further. If a library, for example... And personally, folks, I'm not encouraging this, but let's say if a library had filters on the computers in the library, would there be a way to do that with these devices, or they pretty much... They are just... They work or they don't? Well, so the internet is not pre-filtered in any way. It's just direct access. So it really depends on how the library wanted to use it. If they wanted to offer just that straight access, especially in order to staff, so if they needed to quickly get around something that could or something like that, you could absolutely do it that way. If you did want to route the traffic through your content filter, you can do that, especially with the Clear Hub Express modem. Basically, you can go into the configuration settings of the modem and under Advanced DNS, you can basically create a proxy that runs through your router. So it will proxy the traffic through your own content filtering system. Okay. But then you would be connecting it to your network, whereas if a patron was checking it out, then there would be no way to do that. Well, with the Clear Hub Express of the Wi-Fi modem, you can still do that through the advanced settings. So it's always forcing it to go through your own port via that proxy. Oh, okay, you're right. Okay, yeah, I see what you're saying. Okay. Yeah, with the mobile devices that don't have that kind of configuration, like if it was just the mobile hotspot, then yes, that is just basic access to the internet. Okay. All right. Okay. You can have acceptable use policies and things like that that go along all the way. Yeah. And we do encourage that. Okay. Oh, yeah, I know. These topics always come up whenever you start offering Wi-Fi and things like that. So the other thing I was interested in is you gave some statistics from New York Public, I believe, of what folks were doing using these devices. I will probably get to the should you or shouldn't you in a second, but how are they collecting that data? Oh, you know what? And did the people using the devices know they were collecting that data? I think you probably can guess where I'm going with this. Yes, I can. And so one thing I would want to just direct to you guys too is their URL. So it's li-fi-li-fi.nypl.org. Okay. And this explains more background about the program, what their goals were, their methodology. And then this link right here is what I was showing you. This is where they actually published the results. But yes, everyone going into the pilot understood that. And I know that they used all due diligence necessary and how they conducted it as well. Okay. So that was a particular program. They notified people that they would be keeping basic statistics, things like that. Yeah. And just to let you know on the reporting itself, because privacy always is a concern. And so what we did is we looked at usage just in the aggregate. So it wasn't specific to a particular person. And it looked at just use friends in general. So they definitely, I know that privacy concerns are always something that we should be mindful of. I don't know the exact details, but there's information on this page. You can always follow up with them as well. There have been really a great resource for other libraries too who are interested in setting up similar programs. Okay. So if a library wanted to do, for example, what Laura is doing at her library, there could be a way to gather some statistics. But you would, you know, obviously disclosure and aggregate and things like that. But the devices do support a way to do it. I don't want to get too technical into it. Yeah. Basically, the thing that we can always definitely report on is how much data people are using and for how long. They do get monthly reports on that with the pilot, with NYPL. It was really through our partnership now with Sprint where Sprint came in and helped to provide sort of that next level layer of data that we don't get directly from the provider. So Sprint really stepped in and helped with that portion. Right. And Laura, are you doing anything with that data on your end or is it just, you know, pure circulation stats that you're collecting at this point? Right now we're just collecting pure circulation stats. We've started doing surveys of the users and just to see what they want, what else they're looking for. And we're hoping to expand that a little bit and get more concrete information so we can move forward with other projects. But as far as grant funding for the program, because of SIPA and the need to filter, we can't get funding for the devices because there isn't a way to filter when they're used off-site. But I've never been a fan of filtering, so I don't see that as an issue. We just find other ways of funding the projects. Sure, sure. Yeah, and that's that one conversation we're all trying not to have. You've got to ask some basics about how that works. So Laura, are you getting them through TechSoup or are you doing this directly? We started getting them directly and then when they were offered through TechSoup, we really leapt on that offer. And we've got the large devices that we can take, instructors can take off-site to do classes at other locations. Ooh. Yeah. I like that. You can connect more laptops, I believe it's 25 devices. And that's what we have on the mobile van. And we have about 18 of the small devices. Some are set aside for staff use. And the others are strictly for patrons. And we want to add more of those. And you're finding that in kind of a classroom environment for lack of a better term, that the bandwidth and the connectivity is all solid enough and up to 25 laptops, it just works. It's been about 11 laptops total and it's been working fine. Good. Yeah, a couple of megabits is generally enough for a general workshop unless you're dealing with video or something. Right. Actually, so Catherine, on the bandwidth issue, now that that pops into my head, the three to six with kind of a peak of 10 download, what's the upstream bandwidth like? Upstream is up to one megabit per second. Okay. That's like my house. Yeah. I've got 24 down and one up. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And again, I think from the user experience, it does even out because obviously it's the download that takes up a lot more capacity, and it's used more frequently. Right. It should overall even out to a good user experience, and that's the feedback that we've gotten, which is great. Sure. Laura, speaking of feedback, other than we want more of them, what sort of feedback have you been getting from your patrons on these? They want devices as well. They want to be able to check out iPads and laptops. So we're looking into funding a project like that, and a lot of libraries are doing that already. It just hasn't been something we've been able to afford to do yet, but with a demonstrated need that would help us get funding. Right. Yeah, because this program kind of relies on the fact that you already have a device, and you're just looking for the connection. Yes. Okay. There's a pretty big number of patrons who don't have broadband at home have smartphones. Right. I think the Pew research studies have shown that more and more people will be accessing the Internet on small handheld devices like phones, and we are seeing that here. Right. Yeah, I can relate to that one. I just want to remind everyone that we're happy to take other questions. I think I've been doing a good job answering questions. I had a whole bunch going in today with this. Catherine, what's the other libraries that are participating? Maybe New York Public is the answer, but what is the largest? What is the smallest library you have participating in this that you can think of? Let's see. So New York is definitely going to be the largest program. The smallest, I want to say, is maybe Gatesville Public Library. They're based out in Texas, and I think they only have maybe around four or six mobile hotspots that they've been circulating and also using with their digital literacy training. What was actually interesting about that is, and I think was really smart in terms of the way they structured their digital literacy program, is that it contained a take-home component, and so people who are taking that class when it came to having to complete the take-home component, that's one of the main times where patrons would check out the device, because, again, most of the people who are in the training don't have that home broadband access to start. So it was a great way to see if they were retaining the information from the class as well. I thought that was a really good idea. Yeah, I do like that idea. And the last question I have here on my list for you, Catherine, is I know, at least from our registration list, that... Oh, okay. Quick question here. If you could repeat the name of the library in Texas that you were just talking about for someone? Oh, Gatesville Public Library. Gatesville, okay. I know from our registration, and I can't necessarily tell who's logged in at the moment, but we have a lot of public libraries registered, but we do have some college and university and a couple from what I could tell, regional systems. Is there a limit either through you or through TechSoup as to the type of library or organization that can get a hold of these? Through us? No. There is no limit or restriction. Through TechSoup? I'm not 100% sure. I know that they have... I can actually look that up for you real quick. Yeah, TechSoup has general rules. I'm just not familiar. So probably whatever their general rules are would have ended up just applied to this. They are. There's a database that they use. I'm just going to pull it up real quick. I think we had at least one medical library registered for this session. I know we tend to assume public, but we do have a broad spectrum of libraries interested. Got it. For public libraries, must either have a valid 501c3 nonprofit status or be listed in the Institute of Museum and Library Services database. If it was academic libraries or something like that, we actually have a companion program to TechSoup. It's the same program, but it's done through an organization called Digital Wish, and that one is focused primarily on schools, but I know that they also do work with academic libraries. So if you find that you don't qualify through TechSoup, check out digitalwish.org as well, because you may be able to qualify by your library through their program. I keep coming up with one more question. On the pricing, if I'm able to get it through TechSoup, I get the device and the shipping for free, but I still pay the $10 a month per device for the data. If I can't do that, I want to get it directly from you. What are the base prices for the devices? Modem is $36, and the other two modems, the hotspot and the Wi-Fi modem are $30. Okay, so not expensive at all. That's correct, yes. Per device, though. That's definitely the nonprofit part. Yes, that always helps. We have a request from the audience, if you could repeat the name of the other one for the academics and schools. DigitalWish, so it's digitalwish.org. Okay, and we will, in the show notes, we generally collect all the URLs that have been mentioned, and we'll get those listed in the show notes when we put up the recording, but in this case, digitalWish. There haven't been a lot of URLs this time, so that's good. All right, Lees, thank you very much. Is there anything else either of you would like to say before we wrap up the show? If anybody has any other questions, they can contact me. My email address is available on our website. Okay, and I believe we have that information also. We'll be in the show notes and in the website for today's episode. And so, Katherine, if anybody's interested and can't or don't want to go through TechSoup, just contact you through the slide there on the screen. Yes, absolutely. All right, great. Well, Lees, thank you very much. You definitely answered all of my questions about this and the few that we got from the audience. I really appreciate that. So I'm going to go ahead and wrap up today's show, not seeing any other questions from the audience. So give me a second here while I take back control of the screen. All right. Well, thank you for attending this week's episode of Encompass Live and this month's Tech Talk. I have been and still am Michael Sowers, your host for today, where we've been talking to some folks about the Mobile Beacon Program. Next week's episode is How to League a Book Group with No Discussion Questions Provided. That sounds like it's going to be interesting, especially if you are involved in book groups, is how do you talk about a book if you don't have any questions in advance? And then once a year, so one week out of 52, we take a break from Encompass Live and that will be two weeks on October 8th, because that will be pre-conference day for our annual state conference. So go ahead and do that, and then it looks like my next Tech Talk will be after that. I'm still working on a topic, so if you want to hear about, let me know, or if anything else, you want to actually be a participant or a presenter. Let us know and we will happily do that. So you can follow us there on Encompass Live, and if you are a Facebook user, as many people are, you may or may not already know that Encompass Live is also on Facebook, where you can follow along there, get notifications of upcoming shows and reminders that shows are going live. So that is available to you also. Thank you to both of our presenters and all of you for attending this week's episode of Encompass Live, and we will see you next week. Thanks for attending.