Need to Use a Computer? Sarasota-Manatee Public Libraries are Back to Help
Daily computer use is limited for each guest, but library cards and reservations are not required.
Harry Reynolds writes books about automobile racing — and he does it without internet access at home.
When Sarasota County public libraries closed in March as the coronavirus pandemic set in, Reynolds, 83, would sit in the parking lot of Fruitville Public Library to conduct research and check his email using the public WiFi.
But “wrestling with a computer” in the cramped, and often hot, quarters of his car “never works very well,” Reynolds said.
So when Fruitville Library reopened this week, along with most other branches across Sarasota County, Reynolds returned to sort through the 300 emails he’d missed since he was last online.
“I pay for this with my taxes,” he said, “so I might as well use it.”
With only an hour to access the public computers per day, Reynolds has set a schedule to visit Fruitville three times a week.
“It’s a help, having air conditioning and a solid ‘workbench,’ if you will,” he said.