Kansas City (MO) Public Library

Kansas City Public Library locations:

Central Library, 14 West 10th Street, Kansas City
Plaza Branch, 4801 Main Street, Kansas City
North-East Branch, 6000 Wilson Road, Kansas City
Ruiz Branch (Irene H. Ruiz Biblioteca de las Americas), 2017 West Pennway, Kansas City

802.11b (Plaza has been reported to be 802.11g, but I have not observed this)
SSID: library

The Central Library and Plaza branch are the most laptop-friendly locations at present, with tables wired for power. The tables in the Central Library's third floor reading room, and in the Missouri Valley Room on the fifth floor, also have what I like to call hotjacks-open Ethernet ports for laptops without Wi-Fi or users who'd prefer a (faster and possibly more secure) wired connection. You don't need your own Ethernet cable to use the third-floor jacks; they have retractable cables already attached. You'll need to bring a short cable if you want to go wired in the Missouri Valley Room. Be forewarned, however, that some of the outlets and jacks on the third floor don't work.

One big downside is that the connection is filtered, and overblocking is a problem. The library's website states this is being done to comply with the Children's Internet Protection Act, although there is still some question as to whether it applies to patron-owned equipment as opposed to computers owned and managed by the library, which are explicitly covered. Attempting to access an URL the filter decides to block will bring you to a homepage advertising the filter (Bess). There is no indication as to which of the proscribed content categories the desired site is believed to fall into or other explanation of why access to it is being denied. No provision for overblock mitigation, something mandated both by the act itself and the Supreme Court ruling that upheld its constitutionality, is apparent.

And since this is our first discussion of any location employing filters, I'd like to beg a favor of anyone posting comments from here on out. Let's refrain from talking about what I'll euphemistically refer to as "customer-provided" overblock mitigation. Yes, I know how to do it, and I'm sure many of you do as well. However, I'm going to defer to the authority of the parents of anyone not yet of legal age who may be reading this, despite the fact that Wi-Fi users falling into this category will likely be few and far between.

With that out of the way, let me go on to advise you to bring a fully-charged battery with you if you plan on using either the North-East or Ruiz branches, and a spare wouldn't be a bad idea. I didn't see any conveniently located power outlets anywhere in either building when I visited. Also you should be aware that you may have problems connecting and staying connected at Central or Plaza if you happen to own a laptop that isn't a good performer as far as Wi-Fi reception is concerned. You may want to consider picking up an external PCMCIA or USB wireless adapter for such a machine, if you don't have one already. It may help.

Finally, if anyone from the library should happen across this, please understand that none of the above is intended as a criticism of the library itself. I realize that you're sort of between a rock and a hard place with regard to the content-control issue. I do think, however, that it would be helpful if your blockpage could provide a little more information as to why you're denying access to a site, and that you ought to consider offering at the very least some form of site review, if not actual overblock mitigation (which understandably would be both expensive and difficult to implement on any network for patron-owned equipment, let alone an open one). Also, I hope you're planning to roll Wi-Fi out to the rest of the branches as soon as possible. Some of them would be the only hotspots available in their neighborhoods. Even partial access is better than no access at all.