In other words, that site you just called up on your browser is loading slowly, the video you want to watch is buffering and the online experience is suffering.
But the problem — which most acutely affects those lacking internet service at home — soon will be solved, says John Alita, Stockton's director of community services. Higher-speed internet service is on its way to the five branches in Stockton and the eight other branches in the county.
"I'm hoping within two months," Alita said Tuesday, a few hours before the City Council gave formal approval to the high-speed boost.
The Stockton and San Joaquin County library system is using its recent membership in the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, or CENIC, to join a high-speed broadband network that provides internet service to the state's public universities and schools.
After the library system joined CENIC, an assessment determined that upgraded equipment was needed to make the county and city facilities compatible with a speedier, more modern broadband system. A special funding program for libraries and schools is allowing for a discounted purchase of most of the new equipment.
According to a staff report, the upgraded equipment for the 13 libraries will cost $122,000, $60,000 of it covered by a grant from the California Public Library Broadband Project. The city will pay nearly $24,000 of the remaining $62,000, with the county paying the rest.
"We are going to have enough bandwidth to have 21st-century programming," said Alita, citing as an example live webcasts in which students will be able to interact with scientists thousands of miles away. "We'll be able to bring that into our libraries. We can't do it now."
During the city's financial crisis and subsequent bankruptcy, Stockton cut hours at all of its libraries, except for east Stockton's Fair Oaks branch, which it closed completely.
Last year, however, Stockton voters approved a one-quarter-cent tax to benefit libraries and recreation facilities. The tax took effect April 1 and the city plans to restore library and community center hours as soon as July.
Additionally, Fair Oaks is scheduled to reopen May 10, a move that would have taken place even if voters had rejected the sales-tax hike. Alita said Fair Oaks' internet upgrade will come a little later than the speed boosts at the other sites because it was not part of the original planning. But the other sites may become speedier even before the hot weather arrives.
"It would be great if we could have it right around summer," Alita said. "That would be my hope."
©2017 The Record (Stockton, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
