Library qualifies for Gates grant—November 20, 2009
Wow! That's the only word you can use to describe attending a workshop created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. No detail is overlooked and everything provided is topnotch. From the mountains of information provided, the professional and enthusiastic presenters and the elegant accommodations and food to the fun bobble-head pens, this was a workshop unlike any other I've attended.
Attending the workshop was a requirement of the Gate's Opportunity Online Hardware Grant. Hastings Public Library is excited to qualify for this grant that will provide us with partial funding for five new computers. To date, the Gates Foundation has given more than $350 million to libraries nationwide to increase and update public computers. The current grant being given to Hastings Public Library and other Nebraska libraries will be the last designated specifically for computers.
Receiving this grant is an honor and should be exciting for everyone in the community because it helps us fulfill part of our mission. A primary purpose of the library is to provide everyone in our community with opportunity to learn and use computer technologies and to connect to the online world. Members of our community are using our computers more than ever right now for job searches, resume writing and online job applications. People who have moved to our community are using the computers to get information they need about living and doing business in Hastings and Adams County, and are using the Internet to stay connected with friends and family in other communities.
This grant, however, is not complete until we raise matching funds as the Gates Foundation has outlined. For a community our size, the matching funds needed are reasonable and appropriate and I encourage you to be thinking about the value of computers and Internet access for our community. Watch for more information on fun upcoming events at the library where you can learn more about the impact of this grant and our mission in providing quality computer access.
If you'd like to hear more about the Opportunity Online Hardware Grant project or other projects happening at the library, call the library at 461-2346 or e-mail me. And if you haven't been in the library lately, I encourage you to come in and see how people in the community are using our wide variety of resources.
