The Branch District Library has a host of computing resources to meet your needs. Five of our six branches have high-speed Internet access, and all of them have computers that you may use to browse the Web, work on your résumé, or anything else you want to do.

Anyone may use our computers. You do not need a library card, but you will have to sign in. Sessions are either 30 minutes or one hour, depending on how busy it is and computer availability. Session time is limited to a maximum of one hour each day per person, but if you need more time for homework or studying, just ask the librarian.

And if you're not feeling as confident with a computer as you'd like, be sure to look at our computer class schedule.

Computers

Our public computers mostly run Microsoft Windows XP Professional. We are also beginning to introduce computers from Apple, running the latest Macintosh operating system, Leopard. Every branch has two Macintosh computers.

Hardware

All of our public computers can read DVDs, so feel free to preview a movie from our collection before you check it out. All branches offer color laser printing, as well as black and white. There is at least one flatbed scanner at each branch, and all computers have easily accessible USB ports for the increasingly popular USB drives (thumb drives, key chain drives, flash drives, etc.). Additionally, most public computers have CD Burners. The breakdown of computers available at the branches is as follows:

• Algansee
  • 5 public computers
  • 1 library catalog station
• Bronson
  • 12 public computers
  • 1 library catalog station
  • 1 genealogy computer with microfilm scanner
• Coldwater
  • 14 public computers for adults
  • 6 public computers for children
  • 7 library catalog stations
  • 1 genealogy computer with a microfilm scanner
• Quincy
  • 7 public computers
  • 1 library catalog station
  • 1 genealogy computer with microfilm scanner
• Sherwood
  • 4 public computers
  • 1 library catalog station
• Union Twp.
  • 6 public computers

Software

All of our public computers come with a variety of software for you to work with. You may save your work to a floppy disk, USB disk. There is also a temporary folder on each computer where you can temporarily save your work. All files in the temporary folder are deleted at the end of each day. To protect your privacy, all Internet history, cookies, and other session information are deleted at the end of your computer session.

Software available:

• Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox Web browsers
• Microsoft Office 2007 (2008 for Macintosh)
• OpenOffice
• Apple iWork Productivity Suite (Macintosh computers only)
• Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, Dictionary, and Atlas (Windows computers only)
• Graphing calculator
• Microsoft PhotoDraw (Windows computers only)
• Apple iLife software (Macintosh computers only)
• Adobe Photoshop Elements (Only on computers attached to scanners)
• Paint.Net (Windows computers only)
• SimpleOCR Optical Character Recognition software (Windows computers only)
• The Gnu Image Manipulation Program
• Audacity audio editor
• Standard media players: RealPlayer, QuickTime, Windows Media Player, VLC Media Player, DVD player software
• Nvu web page editor
• other helpful programs and utilities

In addition to the above software titles, computers in our children's areas have a variety of educational and entertaining software, including:

• Arthur's Brainteasers
• Arthur's Math Carnival
• Arthur's Reading Roundup
• Magic School Bus: Dinosaurs
• Magic School Bus: Earth
• Magic School Bus: Rainforest
• Barney goes to the Circus
• Barney Under the Sea
• Fun on the Farm with Barney
• Rabbit Ears: Koi and the Kola Nuts
• Rabit Ears: How the Leopard Got His Spots
• Rabbit Ears: Paul Bunyan
• Stellaluna
• Success Builder Geometry
• Tux Paint
• GCompris
• Childsplay

Internet Access

Five of our six branch locations have high speed Internet Access for you to use. At the Sherwood branch dial-up access is currently our only option. As required by law, Internet access at all library branches is filtered to block pornography (see our Internet Acceptable Use Policy).

Wireless Access

At each branch that has high speed Internet access (all but Sherwood), anyone may bring a laptop, PDA, or any other wireless device to use our wireless Internet service.

This service is available only during normal library hours. For more information, see our Wireless Internet Help page.