The Van Buren District Library says it’s closing the digital divide in Southwest Michigan with a mobile hotspot lending program.

Library Director Dan Hutchins tells us in 2022, the library used a grant to acquire 210 mobile hotspots from Mobile Beacon, a non-profit provider of broadband internet. It uses the T Mobile network to make it possible for anyone to get high-speed internet, even in remote rural areas.

“It took about three or four months for the news to spread that the library was offering this service, but once word got out there, we just found we couldn’t keep them on the shelves,” Hutchins said.

The library later doubled its number of hotspots, and Hutchins says they were used to access more than 312,000 gigabytes of data in the first half of 2025, making the Van Buren District Library Mobile Beacon’s biggest user.

Hutchins says he’s heard from patrons who use the hotspots to watch movies, do homework, and connect with family. Many otherwise wouldn’t be able to do so.

“As you go further west, our service area becomes more rural. Our furthest western edge is Covert Township, just south of South Haven there, and then in between you have places such as Lawrence Township and Bloomingdale Township, Waverly Township. Many of these areas just actually don’t have access to fiber optic internet.”

3,889 library patrons have checked out the hotspots this year alone.

Hutchins says the mobile hotspot program is one more way libraries can stay relevant to their communities.