Public Technology at Central Library

Central Library is a hub for technology access and training. Every year, Central hosts hundreds of digital literacy classes, its public computers facilitate over 330,000 user sessions, and its free wireless network supports over 500,000 connections.

Public Computing and Printing

You can access public computers and printers throughout Central Library:

  • The Civic Commons Computer Center (1st floor) contains 30 PC desktops, a scanner and a printer. A Multi-Function Printer and Self-Check Kiosk are available just outside the Computer Center.
  • The Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons (1st floor) has 10 iMac computers, 10 PC desktops, a scanner and two printers (8.5 x 11). The iMacs are equipped with software including Adobe Creative Cloud applications, Final Cut Pro X, iMovie and GarageBand.
  • The Youth Wing (1st floor) contains 8 PC desktops and printer (8.5 x 11) available during all of Central's open hours. The Youth Wing's Tech Loft features 27 PC desktops and is accessible 3pm-closing on Monday-Friday, and 1pm to closing on Saturdays and Sundays. 
  • There are 12 PC desktop computers and printer (8.5 x 11) in the Society, Sciences & Technology Division (2nd floor). Please note: due to construction, the desktop computer in this division are temporarily unavailable. 
  • There are 8 PC desktop computers and printer (8.5 x 11) in the Languages & Literature Division (1st floor). 
  • The Business & Career Center (2nd floor) has a scanner and a printer (8.5 x 11). They also loan laptops to patrons working on resumes, job search, business research, or other business- and job-related pursuits. 
  • Reserving public computers is free with a BPL library card. You can also get a guest card, which is active for 48 hours and entitles you to a total of two computing sessions over those two days.
  • Need to do some printing? Put some money on your card using one of our Library Card Self-Check Kiosks, found on the 1st floor in the Major Owens Welcome Center, the Grand Lobby, the Youth Wing, the Civic Commons, and on the 2nd floor balcony.  Black and white prints are $0.10 per side and color prints are $0.50 per side.

Other Technology and Resources:

  • Photocopiers are available on the first floor in Civic Commons, and on the second and third floors. Double-sided printing is possible in the building. Black and white photocopies are $0.10 per side and color photocopies are $0.50 per side.
  • Digital microfilm readers are located on the second floor in History, Biography, and Religion. Please bring your own USB drive to save your work.
  • KIC digital scanners are located in the Info Commons, Civic Commons, and Business & Career Center. You can scan documents and email them as attachments or save them to your USB drive. Available file types include PDF, TIF, JPG and RTF. Multi-Function Printers also offer a scanning function. Patrons must have at least $.10 on the card to activate the Multi-Function printer.
  • The KIC scanners can also scan in and fax your documents to anywhere in the U.S. Faxing is a free service and you do not need a library card. Please note that you can only send, not receive, faxes.
  • Digitization equipment is also available in the Info Commons to convert analog media (VHS videocassettes, audiocassettes and vinyl records) to digital files.
  • The History, Biography & Religion Division (2nd floor) has a Clearview C desktop magnifier. This assistive technology allows magnification and high contrast viewing for patrons with low-vision and reading disabilities. It also has sophisticated optical character recognition (OCR), which can convert printed text from various languages to speech that outputted in a number of voices and saved as an image or MP3 file. View the the quick guide (PDF) here.
  • The Info Commons has an external optical drive to use with a CD or DVD and an external floppy disk drive. The drives can be attached via a USB port to our public computers or your own laptop.
  • All meeting rooms in the Info Commons offer a flatscreen display. 
  • The Info Commons has an amateur recording studio featuring an iMac computer for multimedia editing, a microphone, a DSLR camera and other equipment. 
  • All public computers at Central Library offer access to JSTOR and ArtSTOR, subscription research databases accessible only at Central. The 12 computers in Society, Sciences & Technology provide access to Foundation Center Database. A number of subscription-only business websites can be accessed through the Business & Career Center laptops.