'Pop-Up' Library Brings Internet Access to Rural Virginia

Internet access can be hard to come by at the farms and houses that dot rural Spotsylvania County (VA) near Lake Anna and Mineral. But that is changing, thanks to a new partnership between the county and the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. It’s resulted in a weekly “pop-up” library equipped with Wi–Fi at the Belmont Community Center.

Library patrons, and even those without a library card, can stop by from 4 pm to 7 pm Mondays to use one of its 15 Chromebooks and a wireless printer, as well as other library services. “It’s an area that doesn’t have a lot of broadband network service, so we’re really excited to bring these kinds of services outside of our branches and down here in the southern part of Spotsylvania,” said Chris Glover, the library’s assistant director for information technology. “It’s just a great partnership that is really providing a service for this end of the county that they haven’t been able to have before.”