Recently, Yolo County’s library branches in Esparto, Knights Landing, and Yolo increased broadband service to one gigabyte, thus increasing the Internet speed at these locations.

The Yolo County Library obtained funds for these improvements through the State Library’s partnership with the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC). CENIC, along with Governor Brown and the legislature’s “Lighting Up Libraries” initiative, has allowed for the deployment of improved, lower-cost broadband services to public libraries across the state, now including rural libraries within Yolo County.

By supporting the critical and long-term connectivity needs of Yolo County’s residents, users will be able to more easily access the Internet to job search, find local government or healthcare resources, and engage in online education.

“I’ve noticed a lot more people at the library with their laptops,” said Maria Sandoval, staff at Yolo County’s Esparto Regional Library. “Customers can now open programs to do homework or use the Internet to find information much more quickly.”

With the remaining funds from CENIC, the library was able to purchase additional equipment that will increase broadband services to 10 gigabytes by July 2016 at both the Arthur F. Turner Community Library in West Sacramento and the Mary L. Stephens Davis Branch Library.

“More than 120,000 people accessed the Internet at these two branches in 2014,” said Yolo County Librarian Patty Wong. “Customers are not only visiting our libraries to borrow materials, but to also access the Internet.”

The Yolo County Library continues to support the community and provide access to information and services. These changes are possible through support and partnerships with the community, Yolo County Library branches and the Friends of the Library. For more information about the Yolo County Library, visit www.yolocountylibrary.org or connect with the library on Facebook at www.facebook.com/yolocountylibrary.org.