I was planning on blogging from PaLA2010 but my plans have changed.  After I registered at the Lancaster County Convention Center and picked up my name badge, I tried to access the Wifi.  Turns out the WiFi is only free if you are a registered guest at the hotel.  Everyone else has to pay.  Even if you are a paying registered event attendee.

When I first found out about this I was quite annoyed.  I realize PaLA has a “cyber suite”  that is wired with computers and internet access for us to use, but does that mean I have to go there everytime I want to sent a tweet?

I thought about it further and realized that having 2 levels of WiFi access was unfair to those of us who live within driving distance of the convention.  Or further, those whose Libraries couldn’t afford to put us up in a Hotel for 3 nights.  Equity of access and bridging the digital divide are touchstones of Librarianship yet here at our own conference we have those same issues.

Last year at PaLa2009 in Harrisburg the WiFi was free.  I’ve been to PLA, SLA and ALA and the WiFi was free.  Sure, you had to have an access code, but it was made readily available for attendees.  So why not at the Lancaster County Convention Center?  I am not sure.  But when you have a conference of Librarians (who are supossed to be “wired” and “plugged in”) it boggles the mind that wireless access wouldn’t be free.

The convention centers website touts it as “the country’s newest convention center.”  It might be, but the idea that wireless is something you have to pay for is certainly an old one.

I flew in from Taiwan to be part of a panel presentation in blogging tomorrow morning.  I can’t blog and I can’t tweet about the conference.  The irony of the situation is not lost on me.

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