Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
After years of preparation, Warsaw Community Public Library officially merged onto the information superhighway Monday.
The library logged onto the Internet on one of two terminals, and within a month or two, as many as eight terminals will be available for public use.
Library officials will spend the next few weeks "getting the bugs out" of the system.
Library board members will soon draft policies that will define the scope of public use. Since so much is available through the World Wide Web, officials admit deciding what to filter out - such as pornography, chatrooms and games - will be crucial.
Arrival of the service means that anyone - even those who don't own a computer or have a library card - will have access to the Internet.
The service will be as accessible to the public as browsing through the newspaper collection, said library director Ann Zydek.
The public use policy might include time limits, she said.
The library has hired a person who will teach classes on the subject and be available to assist patrons unfamiliar with browsing the Internet.
Skynet was chosen as the Internet service provider and is equipping the library with a T1 line, which supplies up to one megabyte of capacity.
Skynet will receive $12,000 for its start-up fee for the first two years. That means access to the Internet will cost about $500 per month.
Skynet was chosen because it offered the best service, said board president Don Sweatland.
Initially, the library will have capacity to provide access to 30 computers. As a result of long-range planning, the local phone company is designing expansion for up to 200 computers.
Once the service is available, people outside Warsaw - even in North Webster, Pierceton and Syracuse - will be able to access the library's online service without long distance toll charges, Zydek said.
Plans for the online service were a major selling point to during the recent successful fund drive for an additional 6,000-square-foot addition. That addition will be incorporated into the overall building expansion currently under way, Sweatland said.
The privately funded segment of the expansion will cost $156,000. The library has exceeded that by a few thousand dollars and is starting a new fund drive - with a goal of about $200,000 - to finance a proposed "digital library."
