Libraries Offer Internet Access

If you don't have a computer at home, you can use the computers at the Northeast Branch of the D.C. Public Library (330 7th St. NE, 698-3320). You can use these computers to send or read e-mail or to search and read information on the Internet. However, there is usually a waiting list to use those computers, and you can only use them for a limited time (a half-hour, I think).

An excellent alternative is to use the Computer Catalog Center at the Library of Congress. The center in Room LJ 139 in the Jefferson Building (101 Independence Ave. SE) has had many computers free every time I've been there (I've been there about two dozen times over the last two years).

The center is open 8:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays — and until 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It's open to anyone 18 or older.

You're supposed to use the Library of Congress computers for research purposes only, not to send e-mail to friends — so this is a very good place for searching the Internet or reading e-mails/Web sites about the neighborhood (or to research job opportunities, etc.), but it's not really the right place to send or read purely personal e-mail messages (though many people, including me, do it anyway once in a while).

— Marc Borbely §