Federal grant to pay for new computers at Henderson libraries

By Erin Dostal

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010 | 1:55 a.m.

Henderson Libraries received a $180,589 federal grant to replace all of its computers and add about 20 new ones to the library system within the next year.

The grant will allow the library system to replace its 180 computers with newer models and to add about 20 computers to computer labs, according to Tom Fay, executive director of Henderson Libraries. Each year, he said, the libraries swap out about 20 to 30 computers for new ones.

Computer use at local libraries has increased since the beginning of the recession, Fay said. Many patrons use the public Internet access to look for work or pay bills online, he said.

“Considering where budgets are at right now, it was getting pretty bad for us to keep the technology for the public up to date,” Fay said. “As far as the public’s concerned this is a huge, huge benefit.”

The grant, provided by the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, required the libraries to provide a 20 percent match -- $45,148.

That money was already in the libraries’ coffers to pay for about 35 replacement computers to update current ones during the next year, Fay said.

“It was a great way to leverage those funds,” Fay said. “For us this means that every single public computer will be on the same platform.”

Fay said although they won’t find out about the federal grant’s payment schedule until the end of the month, the library district hopes to begin buying new computers by Jan. 1, 2011. If that happens, he said, the new computers should be hooked up and ready for the public by March or April next year.