The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched a nationwide program to put computers in libraries. Their goal was to "bridge the digital divide," to provide internet access to those who had difficulty affording it. The Foundation required a great deal of training and preparation from the grant recipients. They were also focused on helping libraries with sustainability beyond their initial gift. The library director, Tomi Herold, attended many training sessions in the valley and studied required guides before the library finally received two computers in 2001. We were given one English computer and one Spanish computer, but the trainers made a big deal of the fact that the Spanish one could be used in English. This gift increased our capacity from three public access computers to five.
They gave the library a modem that nearly doubled internet speed capability to 108 bps. The library did have to pay for an additional phone line though.
