Libraries are essential for internet access, even as national broadband projects ramp up

Congress has authorized trillions of dollars in new spending through the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In our series “Breaking Ground,” “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal visits communities across the country to look at how this infusion of federal dollars might change the economy — in complicated, invisible, even contradictory ways.

Over the coming days, we’ll explore how $42 billion of that spending will be used to try to connect every household in the country to high-speed internet. We’ll look at the supply chain for the fiber optic cables the federal government has invested in, and the challenges in getting those hair-thin glass tubes hooked up in rural communities. We’ll meet the state and federal administrators who are working together to map every unserved and underserved home in Kentucky before any cable is rolled out. And finally, we’ll visit a one stop-light town in the state that figured out high-speed internet a decade ago. 

But before we start the series, let’s take a look at how people in Taylorsville, Kentucky — one of those hard-to-reach places — are getting their internet. 

Kentucky’s mountains, hills and large rural population have historically made broadband rollout challenging for the state, so in lieu of home internet, some residents depend on local libraries, such as the Spencer County Public Library in Taylorsville.

The library has all the things you’d expect to find: children’s and teens’ sections, reading areas, community meeting spaces, as well as more than a dozen computers scattered around.

Director Debra Lawson said that while those computers are used less frequently lately —patrons typically bring in their own devices — the Wi-Fi usage is “through the roof.”

“We leave our Wi-Fi up 24/7,” Lawson said. “So sometimes … I come in the next morning, check on the camera, and there’ll be people outside in 35 degrees in sleeping bags using the internet.”

Around a quarter of Spencer County residents don’t have access to broadband internet.

“You can have a house filled with money, and you can’t get good service provider because of the topography,” Lawson said. “And also some people can look 100 yards down the road and see a house that has internet access, but they can’t get it because it stopped right there and the provider is not going to go down the road for one house.”

Internet access is free for patrons, but the library still has to pay for it. After a 70% discount with an educational rate, Lawson said the library pays $2,700 every year for internet service. But Lawson said it’s worthwhile because she’s not sure what some patrons would do without it.

“I can’t even imagine because the services that we provide, and the way they use our computers, they’re participating in society,” Lawson said. “You know, they’re doing their insurance, they’re looking to do their taxes. They’re participating.”

Click the audio player above to hear the full story.