Free WiFi deal signed by county council

It has been reported that Surrey County Council has recently signed a deal that will see all of its libraries being hooked up to free WiFi services.

According to recent reports a money-saving IT deal has recently been signed by Surrey County Council, which will see all of the libraries that come under the council being installed with free WiFi services. Council officials said that the new contract includes equipment compatible with broadband wireless networking standards and will save taxpayers around £1.6 million over the next seven years.

Almost all of the technology that the libraries use will be covered by the new IT deal and with libraries becoming more dependent upon having broadband and internet services the deal will prove high beneficial. It will provide a greater range of services for the online library and this includes the extended use of social media where people can discuss and rate books that they have read.

A county council spokesman said: “Technology is becoming increasingly important to library users, who use branch computers 850,000 times a year. Surrey’s online library is also proving increasingly popular, with more than three million transactions annually. The library service teaches around 500 people per week about how to use computers and the internet.”

Surrey County Council’s cabinet member for community services and the 2012 Games, Denise Saliagopoulos, added: “Value for money is essential and we have struck a deal that provides library users with a better service for less cost. Modern technology means people are using libraries in different ways, so we must keep apace, and I’m certain free WiFi access will prove very popular. We will also be developing our online library and ebook service which is being used widely.”

Source – Redhill and Reigate Life