Hartselle library receives 6 Macs
All but one of the new Macintosh computers at the William Bradford Huie Library of Hartselle were in used 20 minutes after the library opened Monday morning. | Clif Knight
The William Bradford Huie Library of Hartselle is now offering its patrons new broadband technology thanks to the installation of six state-of-the-art Macintosh computers last week.
The computers were provided jointly by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and Auburn University Outreach. They were installed by technicians last Thursday, replacing six out-of-date computers.
“We’re thrilled to get them,” said librarian Emily Love. “They have Microsoft Office 2011, PowerPoint and Excel and are faster and have much larger monitors than the old ones we were using.”
She said another feature is added security for the user.
”When the user logs out everything, everything he or she put on the server is automatically erased,” she pointed out. “The size of the type can also be increased to 200 percent to accommodate users who have trouble reading normal size letters.”
“Everyone who has used them has been very impressed with their speed, versatility and ease of operation,” Love said. “I think we will see them get a lot more use now.”
“Love said the library computers provide a valuable service to citizens who don’t have a computer work station at home.
The BTOP appropriation provided $4.6 million to expand the availability of broadband technology in Alabama’s rural libraries and public schools. When fully implemented, it will deploy 1,180 computer workstations and replace nearly 915 more in 102 libraries and 37 public schools in the state.
