Contact: Barrett Berry, (202) 205-2460
BaBerry@rdmail.rural.usda.gov
Dan Campbell, (202) 720-6483
dacampbel@rdmail.rural.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, April 24, 2000--Jill Long Thompson, USDA under secretary for rural development, today announced the awarding of $49,000 in grants to help eight small libraries in rural Wisconsin enter the digital age. The grants will enable the libraries to participate in the My Online Resource (MORE) shared automation system, which electronically links the holdings of participating libraries into a single, interactive catalog.
"USDA is helping to close the digital divide through programs such as this, which ensure that rural Americans have full access to advances in information technology," Long Thompson said. "This program shows how we can achieve big results for a very small investment of public funds."
The MORE system gives small libraries access to the vast resources of other libraries, enabling them to offer more services, maximize resources and save money. The grants are being awarded under the Community Facilities program of USDA Rural Development, which provides financing for essential rural community facilities, such as health clinics, fire stations, schools and municipal buildings. Each of the libraries receiving the grants are members of the Indianhead Federated Library System, which includes 21 rural libraries scattered over 5,000-square-miles in sparsely populated northwestern Wisconsin.
"With this system, a farmer researching no-till agriculture or a student needing a book on astronomy for a class can tap into the catalogs of all 21-system libraries from their own homes, and have the books they need delivered to their local library the next day," Long Thompson noted.
Receiving the grants are: Balsam Lake Public Library ($4,929); Boyceville Public Library ($5,526); Dresser Public Library ($5,406); Luck Public Library ($5,363), Milltown Public Library ($10,633), Deer Park Public Library ($3,655), Polk County Public Library, ($4,291) and Glenwood City Public Library ($9,092).
Bryce Luchterhand, Wisconsin state director for USDA Rural Development, said that new technology is helping overcome the barriers of rural isolation. "The information superhighway can turn a small, rural library into a super library, and can make rural schools and health clinics competitive with those found in urban areas," Luchterhand said. "Boosted further by the rapidly evolving new frontiers of telecommuting, rural communities that once appeared headed for extinction can now compete with cities and better maintain and expand their population base."
For more information on this program, contact USDA Rural Development at (202) 720-4323, or visit our website, www.rurdev.usda.gov.
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