Patrons of the Hempstead County Library this week may have noticed signs saying the facility’s internet is down and may be down for at least another week. Head Librarian Courtney McNiel said this is because of a faulty part whose replacement is now on order.

McNiel said the outage stems from an equipment failure.

"It's just a piece of equipment that we've had since we moved in here, so a little over seven years, and it just croaked on us," she said.

She said the failed equipment is located in the library's technology closet. "We had a switch go out. It’s a big, long box that has a bunch of little switches that go into it. As our tech guy said, it is cooked.”

McNiel said a temporary workaround has kept some operations functioning while the replacement part is on the way. "As soon as they get that piece of equipment in, they're going to get it fixed for us and get us back up and running," she said.

She said the current estimate for repairs remains unchanged. "When he was here the other day, he said a week to a week and a half, and so I'm hoping that the holiday doesn't make it worse than that. We're trying to get it here as quick as possible," she said.

McNiel said she knows the outage has disrupted many patrons' routines of using databases not accessible outside the library building. "We do hate the inconvenience, because I know a lot of people depend on these," she said.

Despite the outage, she said one important research service remains available. "So long as you're in this building, that will work. So, bring your laptop, if you have a laptop, and connect to our Wi-Fi. You can't print obviously, but you can still access it," she said.

McNiel said the archive of the Hope Star remains limited to use within the library because of copyright restrictions. "We have tried to get the access from the current owner of the Hope Star to get that copyright access, and we can't. It's gone through so many hands, and I've reached out to them, and they're just so big that it's just hard to find somebody. But we have been trying. I'm still actively trying," she said.

She said patrons would benefit if those restrictions could eventually be lifted. "If we can get that release of copyright from them, then we can open that up, and you can have access at your house, or at your desk, But as of right now, until we have that copyright release, you just have to be in this building with this IP address," she said.