Wireless Networking in Libraries

Since the turn of the 21st century, libraries of almost all types have been providing clients with access to the Internet through wireless networks. In the process, wireless networking has become an important part of the continuing effort to extend access to library services through networked information technologies. The expansion of the wireless access offered by libraries, now approaching ubiquity among academic and public libraries, has been driven by a number of factors, not the least of them being the tremendous growth in the numbers of so-called “smart” devices capable of connecting to wireless networks and the parallel increases in the bandwidth available via wireless networks. Looking to the future, wireless access as provided libraries is vital to their function as public computing centers. The continued development of and improvements in mobile applications is also essential, but the construction of mobile-friendly Websites is probably far more important, given the evidence that mobile users are accessing content with increasing frequency and in progressively larger numbers. Similarly, the security and privacy of mobile applications and services must be ensured with the greatest possible vigor, inasmuch as the confidence of users is closely aligned with their continuing use of digital library resources