DELMARVA. -- Libraries across Maryland are operating without internet access. An underground fire in Baltimore interrupted service and has sent libraries on the Eastern Shore back to doing things the old-fashioned way.
"It's almost every Maryland public library that is affected today," said Talbot Library Director Dana Newman. "I heard Talbot County Government and Talbot County Public Schools are also impacted because they're on that same network."
That network is Sailor, according to Newman.
She said the library has resorted to in-house hotspots, allowing staff to operate from two laptops to electronically check books in and and out. Other than that, Talbot libraries, much like many other's across the Eastern Shore are without Wi-Fi.
Newman estimates about 200 people will impacted each day until their Wi-Fi is back up and running.
"We get a lot of people who are in here looking for jobs, just connecting with people on the internet and that's a large part of our service," said Newman. "But we also have people who come in here to do research."
Worcester County Library Director Jennifer Ranck told us things don't look much different on her side of the Eastern Shore.
"Unfortunately we've had to turn some people away today that wanted to get on the computers, it's one of our most important services we offer so we're really sorry we can't have that," said Ranck.
There is a silver lining for those who need internet access.
"One thing we can do for people is check out hotspots and laptops," said Ranck. "We do have a limited number of them but that might be a workaround for some people."
People can also check out hotspots from Talbot County libraries.
Both Newman and Ranck told us it could be at least a few days before this issue is resolved.
