WiFi Hotspots Available at Grundy County Library
UT Extension has partnered with the May Justus Memorial Library in Grundy County to offer WiFi hotspots for residents to check out. This program is part of a research initiative to bring internet to rural communities in Tennessee. Two AT&T WiFi Hotspots are available at May Justus Memorial Library. Grundy County residents with a library card can check out a hotspot for personal use at home or their business. When they return the hotspot, they are asked to fill out a short survey to better help understand internet needs in the community.
This program has been a collaboration with Creig Kimbro, County Extension Director and Jennifer Banks, Extension agent with Cannon County as well as Linda Parrish, Chair of Grundy County Library Board and Karen Tittle, Director of May Justus Memorial Library. Dr. Sreedhar Upendram, assistant professor for the University of Tennessee’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Isabella Baxter, Agriculture and Natural Resources Librarian are heading this project and collecting data from residents who check out the hotspots from the library to look at what they are mainly using the internet for, what kind of support they need with the internet, and some demographic information. The purpose of this research is to help bridge the gap in broadband services in Grundy County, and hopefully lead to a more permanent solution.