Mahoning law library gets wireless Internet

Wireless Internet ‘is a part of the times,’ a lawyer says.

YOUNGSTOWN — The law library on the fourth floor of the Mahoning County Courthouse is now a wireless Internet hot spot.

Anyone with a laptop computer or a smart phone with wireless Internet access capability can use the new service, said Chris Liddle, owner of Mahoning Valley Data of Poland, the installation contractor.

The law library is open to lawyers, court and government officials and the general public from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The one-year trial installation is funded by the Mahoning County Bar Association and the Mahoning County Law Library Association.

“It gives them the ability to check their Internet, keep in touch with the office and get their memos from their secretaries. Basically, it’s a key for communication,” Liddle said Wednesday.

“We try to take advantage of all the technologies that become available,” said Anna E. Paczelt, law librarian. “We’re here to serve the lawyers. ... Wireless is the way that people are going.”

“It’s nice to have a hot spot in the courthouse that everybody can access,” for e-mail and research purposes, including out-of-town lawyers who come here, said Atty. Robert Duffrin, an assistant county prosecutor and a member of the bar association’s technology and courts committees.

“This is a part of the times, and I think it’s important that we move ahead with modern technology,” Duffrin said.

The law library is now the only public wireless Internet access point in a Mahoning County government building, but Jake Williams, the county’s information technology director, said his goal is to have public wireless Internet access throughout the county courthouse later this year.

The county has numerous wireless Internet access points, which are limited to county-authorized personnel and not available to the public, Williams said.