Date: 2005-07-08
To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Libraries(7/8/05)Hanover, NH        My plan to use public library internet access to upload photos to my journal hasn't worked out very well. I have alot of photos but I am far behind. It was fairly easy in the South where the libraries were open, they had plenty of PCs, and they often let you stay on the internet as long as noone needed it. But then again it was winter and springtime, and now in July I've heard the dreaded words, "summer hours", something I hadn't considered. It's also a possibility that public libraries are not as high a priority in northern towns as they are in the south. I showed up at the Salisbury, CT library on a Monday, only to find out that it's closed on Mondays. Another town I passed through about 11AM, but the library's hours were 3-9 PM. In Rutland, VT, I showed up at 4:48PM, to be told that the PCs were shut down ten minutes before the library closes, and the library was closing at 5PM, giving me two minutes at most. It finally dawned on me that I should have planned my town stops around the library's hours. Going into towns, I'm mainly looking for a grocery store, a library, and sometimes a post office, and grocery stores are pretty much always open. I should find out what the library's hours are before I show up.        But there's another problem: The internet access is often severely restricted. Many times libraries allow just 1/2 hour or 1 hour access per person per day. Fears about security (viruses, etc.) often cause libraries to configure their systems to not recognize a device that you attach, such as a digital camera from which you'd like to upload pictures to the web.        1/2 hour to an hour isn't really enough time to get much done,and if you choose to pay an internet cafe or a business service store for access, you may find the price steep: $8-$20/hour. If a PC in a library is standing idle, its processing cycles and internet bandwidth are "lost". Libraries seem to prefer to let these resources be lost than to let someone use more that their set limit. If you believe such things, perhaps I'm now being punished for becoming too complacent.        At Delaware Water Gap,PA, I met Graham from Scotland, who cam to hike from Harper's Ferry, W.VA to Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. I told him I was going to the library in Stroudsburg for the internet. He asked if all the libraries had internet access. I replied, "pretty much guaranteed". How wrong I was; access there was the most draconian yet! They would give you all "guest" user id and password that you enter into special software running on the PC. After 23 minutes, you start getting pop-up boxes telling you that your time has nearly elapsed,so get prepared to get off. Graham and I looked at each other as our 1/2 hours were running out, and I could only smile and say, "Man, that's brutal."        At a library in Massachusetts, I had signed my name in one of the slots on the sheet where you sign up for a PC, corresponding to the time I had arrived. After working for about an hour, a librarian came over to me, pointed to my name on the list and asked, "Is this you?" I said, "Yes." She said, "You've been on for an hour. You have to get off!" I said, "Even if no one else needs it?" Her reply, "Oh,yes!" The PCs there weren't particularly busy. That one stood idle.