New Castle County Government: NCC Exec Meyer Announces New Chromebook And Wi-Fi Hotspots Checkout Program At NCC Libraries

Press release from the New Castle County Government:

May 27, 2021

NEW CASTLE – New Castle County Library patrons can now checkout Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hotspots from their local libraries thanks to a partnership between the County and the Delaware Division of Libraries’ Digital Loaning Initiative.

The pandemic made the digital divide in the community more acute. Access to tech and broadband are critical for job searches, schoolwork, unemployment assistance, benefit applications, telehealth consultations, and other online activities. Each County branch will have 9 Chromebooks and 5 Wi-Fi hotspots available for checkout. Contract libraries may also have devices available for checkout.

“Libraries play an important role in providing computer and internet access to the community,” stated County Executive Matthew Meyer. “By offering Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hotspots for checkout, we are helping to meet an essential need and are providing important tools to help our community recover from the pandemic.” 

Chromebooks are like other laptops but run apps instead of traditional software. Patrons can sign in as a guest to browse the internet or can create/sign in with a Google account to create and share documents, edit photos, listen to music, etc. using Chrome apps. Once the patron logs out, other users will not be able to access their personal data. Patrons may also check out a Wi-Fi hotspot, which provides internet access anywhere a Verizon cellular signal is present.

Checkout Guidelines:

This press release was produced by the New Castle County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.