Stevens County Rural Library District Public Wi-Fi Internet Access

Kettle Falls Public Library Wireless Status:	Lakeside Community Library Wireless Status:	Library of the Lakes Wireless Status:	Colville Public Library Wireless Status:

The Stevens County Rural Library District is now offering free Public Internet Access for persons with wireless-enabled portable computers or personal digital assistants (PDAs). This service allows you to quickly and easily connect and access the library online resources, databases and the Internet. Currently the WiFi Hotspot locations are located in the Chewelah Public Library, Colville Public Library, Hunters Public Library, Kettle Falls Public Library, Lakeside Community Library, and the Library of the Lakes at Loon Lake.

This service provides a way to access the same Internet resources available from our Public Internet, Database and Online Catalog from the convenience of your own wireless enabled laptop computer or PDA. This service also allows you to connect to Internet resources that may not be accessible through the Library's Public Access computers. You can also download and upload data and files directly to and from your laptop computer or PDA.

This service uses the Library's network resources to connect to the Internet and as such provides the same connectivity as the wired Patron Public Access computers installed at the library locations when connected to the service. Connection to the service allows the patron to access some services not available using the Public Access computers - such as Instant Messaging and email using an email client program.

Anyone using the wireless service to connect to our Public Internet Access must abide by the Stevens County Rural Library Wireless Connectivity Policy. Users who violate the terms of that policy, other library policies or use the network for abusive, malicious or illegal activity will be banned from the network and may be subject to prosecution.

The Chewelah Public Library, Colville Public Library, Kettle Falls Public Library, and the Stevens County Rural Library District will not be held liable for any damages to patron computers, computer software, files, or equipment that occur from use in the library or connection with the library wireless internet. The library provides wireless internet, but is not responsible for ensuring patron computer connectivity.

Hardware Requirements

• Portable computer or PDA with an 802.11b or 802.11b/g compatible wireless Ethernet network card.
• Software to support the wireless network card.
• Web browser software.

Getting Connected

Complete the following steps to get connected. Staff assistance is not available for this process:
Configure your computer or PDA’s TCP/IP network settings to use DHCP. With DHCP enabled, your computer is automatically assigned an IP address when you connect to our network.

Ensure that your wireless network card is enabled and supports a connection using the 802.11b or 802.11g wireless protocol. You may also need to configure your SSID to Chewelah Public Library (for Chewelah Public Library), scrldcolville (for Colville Public Library), Hunters Wifi (for Hunters Public Library), SCRLD-LOL (for Library of the Lakes), KFPL WiFi (for Kettle Falls Public Library) and Lakeside Library WiFi (for Lakeside Community Library); disable WEP/WPA encryption (for Chewelah Public Library, Hunters Public Library, Kettle Falls Public Library, Lakeside Community Library, and Library of the Lakes only); and set connection to Infrastructure or Access Point mode.

Start your web browser. You must first connect to our network using your web browser (attempt to go to some website) before you will be able to access the Internet using any protocol. This action will trigger the WiFi login screen to appear. Follow the instructions on the login page to access the system.

Read the Patron Wireless Connectivity Policy. Use of the WiFi system implies you have read the policy!!!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where is Public Internet Access available?

Public Internet Access is accessible from most of the public areas in the libraries mentioned above. Due to the nature of the WiFi signal there may be some "weak signal" areas around the book shelves due to the metal materials used in the construction of the book shelves.

Q: What kind of equipment do I need to access the service?

A wireless network-enabled portable computer or PDA. See the Hardware Requirements for more details.

Q:Will the information on my laptop be safe from hackers?

The security of your laptop will be your responsibility.

We recommend that you keep up to date with security patches that are released from various software vendors. www.windowsupdate.com is a good place to go to make sure your operating systems is secure (Microsoft Windows operation system only).

You may also wish to run one of the firewall packages obtainable from the internet - Zone Alarm Firewall is one such package - There is a free version for private individual use. The Stevens County Rural Library District does not provide firewall software for anyone - this is your responsibility!

You may also wish to install an anti-virus software package to protect yourself from the many varied forms of computer virus. One such package which is free for private individual use is called "AVG" and is available from Grisoft - and they do keep their anti-virus signature files very current! The Stevens County Rural Library District does not provide anti-virus software for anyone - this is your responsibility!

Q: How do I know if my laptop is compatible with your network?

As long as you purchased and installed a WiFi card that said 802.11b or 802.11g compatible, you'll be able to access our network. If your laptop came with built-in wireless networking capabilities most likely it already is compatible with our system. While our wireless network, using 802.11b/g wireless routers, supports 802.11g (54-mbits/sec) the minimum requirement is 802.11b compatibility (11-mbits/sec). The "connection speeds' listed here are "best" link speeds between the wireless Access Point equipment and your wireless network card - they do not reflect the actual connection speed to the Internet!

NOTE: Even though you may have a 802.11g wireless card in your laptop you may only get 802.11b connectivity - this is caused by other 802.11b devices being connected to our WiFi system at the same time. This is a function of the way WiFi works - it allows backward compatibility with the 802.11b standard but can not work in both standards at the same time.

Q: I don't have a laptop! Does SCRLD provide laptops?

No, but you can sign up to use one of the public access computers available to the public in one of our 8 Library locations. Our public computers are limited to some extent as we do not allow sending or receiving email using an email client.

Q: How much do you charge to use your network?

The Stevens County Rural Library District Wi-Fi is free for everyone.

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