Gates Foundation Awards $8.1 Million for Computer Upgrades
Lynn Blumenstein & Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 7/18/2008
- Libraries in 11 states get help
- Second of three rounds
- $4.1 million in match is required
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced $8.1 million in grants to help public libraries in 11 states upgrade their computer hardware. This is the second of three rounds of Opportunity Online grants; they require local matching commitments totaling $4.1 million. Intermediary organizations will administer and manage the grants in each state. The grants were awarded to Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR), the Library of Virginia, and the NELINET, PALINET, and SOLINET consortia.
The foundation, in partnership with its intermediaries, has contacted all eligible libraries—in communities with high concentrations of poverty that are at risk of having outdated technology. More than 800 library facilities in Alaska, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington State qualify in this round.
The third round of Opportunity Online hardware grants will begin in 2009. The remaining 18 U.S. states participated in the foundation’s Public Access Computing Hardware Upgrade Grant program in 2006, according to the foundation, and are not eligible for Opportunity Online hardware grants
