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As part of an effort to help keep people reading, the New York Public Library is taking a forward-thinking approach. Instead of marketing campaigns to get people to come into the library and check books out, they’re bring the books to people’s homes. The way they’re doing this is by providing free high-speed Internet to 10,000 of NYC’s residents.

The poorest folks in the city will have first dibs on the free Internet. And while 10,000 may sound like a large number the truth of the matter is that nearly 3 million people in the city don’t have Internet access. In a world that relies on the Internet more and more to keep it running properly, this is a huge number. It also puts the US way behind compared to other countries (such as South Korea, with more than 80% of its population connected). This trend of providing free Internet to people that need it isn’t just taking place at the NYP Library, however. Other companies are getting involved in the drive toward the future, such as Mobile Beacon. In the end, if we really want people to read, mass connectivity is the best tool that we have.

Photo courtesy of Razimantv via Wikicommons