The St. Louis Public Library is phasing out its free internet hotspot lending program due to a loss of federal funding.
At its peak, the program provided 12,000 of the pocket-size devices to give free internet access to city residents at home.
This was made possible by the pandemic-era Emergency Connectivity Fund, which gave the library more than $4 million for the program in late 2021.
The federal funding ended in June 2024, and since then, the library has maintained a remaining 700 of the devices with its own money. St. Louis Public Library Chief Executive Officer Waller McGuire said the library can no longer afford the program due to the high rate of devices the library has to purchase and replace.
“I wish that America had other ways of giving people access in their homes to the internet, since so much of life is moving in that direction now, but it isn't something that the library can continue to provide,” McGuire said.
He said about 30 hotspots per month were not returned. That meant the library had to cancel the service to the unit that was not returned and transfer it to a new one, which the library had to buy with its own money.
“That's a major staff undertaking and a major expense that we just can't continue,” McGuire said.
The hotspots, which were only available for checkout by city residents, helped those who lived in areas with poor connection or those who couldn’t afford internet service. McGuire said they were used for a wide variety of purposes including schoolwork, job searching and entertainment.
Jan. 29 is the last day to place a hold on a mobile hotspot, and the library will end circulation after Feb. 28. There may be a waitlist, so there is not a guarantee that every hold will be filled before that date.
The St. Louis County Library still has a hotspot lending program and does not plan to end it anytime soon, a spokesperson said. The program started in 2018 and is funded by the library’s operating budget.
Anyone 18 and older with a St. Louis County Library card can check out a hotspot. Residents of St. Louis, St. Louis County, St. Charles County and some parts of the broader St. Louis area are eligible for a library card there.
The county library has 287 hotspots in its collection, but there are currently 504 holds; 110 additional hotspots are available to reserve for a certain day and time.
City public library branches also still offer free onsite internet access, which is provided to the library at a discounted price through the E-Rate program. Hotspots were briefly E-Rate eligible, but the Federal Communications Commission voted in September to end that, meaning no discounts were available to schools or libraries that distribute hotspots.
“The E-Rate program is very important to us. … We always look at what's available through them, and we'll continue to do so,” McGuire said. “We'll hope that funding becomes available again, and we will continue to look for it, but right now, there is nothing on that scale available to us.”
