Gates Foundation Grants to Wisconsin Public Libraries

October 2008

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Some of the information on this page reflects grants awarded several years ago and will likely be of historical interest only.

October 2008 Update

In 2009 Wisconsin will join ten other states as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Opportunity Online" hardware grant program. Please see the grant's Website for more information

February 2007 Update

Through the generosity of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Division has joined forces with OCLC’s WebJunction to offer a full-day workshop for public library directors, which will be offered at ten sites throughout Wisconsin between February and May, 2007. The project is a result of an event, “Sustaining Public Access in Rural Libraries,” held by the Gates Foundation in 2004 to assess the challenges faced by small and rural libraries in providing public access computing.

For more information on this program and a list of the workshop dates and locations, see the Greener Pastures - Rural Library Sustainability Project Website.

December 2004 Update

In December the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation notified the division that it had accepted the division's Staying Connected grant for $192,800. In a press release, State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster noted that, "The Gates Foundation grant will help us train public library staff to become more proficient in using technology, including the Internet. Maintaining excellent library services requires us to keep abreast of changes in technology to better serve the residents of our state, and we are grateful to the Gates Foundation for supporting those efforts."

As can be seen in the table below, most of the grant will be used by Wisconsin's 17 regional public library systems to offer workshops and other support for technology to their member libraries. The DPI's Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning also will use a portion of the grant to support training for its sponsored programs. Those include the statewide library catalog (WISCAT) and BadgerLink, the state's online library, which provides free access to more than 700 newspapers and 11,000 magazines, photographs, maps, book reviews, and reference materials.

Press Release on the Staying Connected Grant

July - August 2004 Update

The Staying Connected Grant Program

The division filed the Wisconsin Staying Connected grant with the Gates foundation on August 2. The foundation will notify the division later this year if the grant for $192,800 has been approved.

The Staying Connected Grant Program is a follow-up to the Gates Foundation's 2004 Training Grant program (see below). It is the last part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Library Grant Program. The Staying Connected Grant is designed to assist state library agencies in developing long-term sustainability programs for public access computing in the state's public libraries.

System	Training Grant 2004	Staying Connected Grant 2005
Arrowhead	$ 2,900	$ 6,000
Eastern Shores	$ 2,700	$ 5,500
Indianhead	$ 7,000	$ 15,800
Kenosha County	$ 3,200	$ 6,700
Lakeshores	$ 2,900	$ 6,000
Manitowoc-Calumet	$ 2,800	$ 5,700
Mid-Wisconsin	$ 3,000	$ 6,200
Milwaukee County	$ 6,700	$ 14,100
Nicolet	$ 5,800	$ 12,900
Northern Waters	$ 5,000	$ 11,100
Outagamie Waupaca	$ 3,000	$ 6,200
South Central	$ 6,000	$ 13,500
Southwest Wisconsin	$ 5,200	$ 11,400
Waukesha County	$ 2,700	$ 5,500
Winding Rivers	$ 6,500	$ 14,700
Winnefox	$ 4,500	$ 9,700
Wisconsin Valley	$ 5,300	$ 11,800
System Total	$75,200	$162,800

Only state library agencies may apply for this grant. Wisconsin is eligible for $192,800 and in addition, the state library must provide a 50% match ($96,400) from federal, state or local funds. As with the current Training Grant, the division believes that the Staying Connected Grant funds can best be utilized by allocating most of the funding to the state's library systems. On the right is the grant allocation for the Training Grants awarded in January 2004 and the new Staying Connected Grants. Of the total grant allocation, $30,000 will be used by the division for BadgerLink and WISCAT training. The remaining $162,800 will be allocated to the systems as shown. (Staying Connected Grant funds can be spent between January 2005 and June 30, 2007.)

The division must submit the Staying Connected Grant to the Gates Foundation by August 2, 2004. Systems have been notified that by July 19 they must submit to the division information on how they will use their grant allocation. The division should know by late October if the grant has been accepted.

The Staying Connected Grant Program supports four activities. Most systems will use their funds for training and technical support.

1. Hardware Upgrades/Replacement: Upgrading and/or replacing public access PCs in public libraries serving low-income communities.

2. Internet Connectivity Upgrades: Upgrading the Internet connection in libraries with just a dial-up connection.

3. Training Support: Supporting the development of public access computer training programs for public library staff. Funds for training may be used to pay for a variety of costs associated with the design and delivery of training.

4. Technical Support: Supporting the establishment or expansion of a technical support program for public libraries. A program might include a help desk or dedicated technical support staff. Supported activities might include the development and establishment of a technical support mechanism, including the hiring of personnel who provide direct support to public libraries.

Any questions on the Staying Connected Grant Program should be directed to Bob Bocher. The division's complete grant will be posted here in early August.

December 2003 Update

Wisconsin Training Program Grant Application

There are two training grants available as the final component of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation U.S. Library State Partnership Program. The two grant programs, the Training Program Grant and the Staying Connected Grant, focus on sustaining the investment the Foundation has made in public access computing in libraries. The division filed the initial Staying Connected Grant application on September 16, 2002.

The Training Program Grant provides cash grants to qualifying State Library Agencies, who use the funds to implement training programs of their own design. The State Library Agency must submit an application that describes how the proposed training plan will further expand access to information technology in their state's public libraries.

Training Grant Awards to Regional Systems
Regional Library System	Training Grant Award	Regional Library System	Training Grant Award
Arrowhead	$2,900	Northern Waters	$5,000
Eastern Shores	$2,700	Outagamie Waupaca	$3,000
Indianhead	$7,000	South Central	$6,000
Kenosha County	$3,200	Southwest Wisconsin	$5,200
Lakeshores	$2,900	Waukesha County	$2,700
Manitowoc-Calumet	$2,800	Winding Rivers	$6,500
Mid-Wisconsin	$3,000	Winnefox	$4,500
Milwaukee County	$6,700	Wisconsin Valley	$5,300
Nicolet Federated	$5,800	System Total	$75,200

The Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning, the state library agency, submitted a Training Program Grant Application for $94,050 to the Foundation on November 24, 2003. The grant was accepted by the Foundation December 2, 2003. The division believes that of the $94,050 in funds, most of this $75,200 can be best utilized by allocating it to our regional library systems (see table at right). The remaining $18,850 will be allocated to the state library. The regional systems are closely attuned to the needs of their member libraries and they already have well established technology programs and continuing education (CE) programs in the technology area.

As a result of the decision to allocate most of the grant funds to the systems, the state library staff worked with system technology and CE staff to craft the grant application to best meet the needs of the library systems and their member libraries. This dialogue produced a formula for determining how the Training Program Grant funds would be allocated among the 17 regional systems. This allocation included a base amount of $2,500 to each system, then a per Gates Library PC allocation. Thus, regional systems with more GLCs receive more training funds. It should be noted that Milwaukee Public Library, which was part of an earlier Gates Foundation grant for large urban libraries, is included in the Training Grant allocation as a member of the Milwaukee County library system because 31% of the total Wisconsin population living below the poverty level resides in the city of Milwaukee.

The grant funds will be available in January 2004 and library systems have all of 2004 to use the funding. For more information, see the complete grant application.

June 2003 Update

Installation of Gates Library Computers

In January 2003, when the Gates Library Computers (GLCs) started to be installed in Wisconsin's public libraries, those libraries already had an installed base of 4,477 PCs accessible to the public. The final installation of the 714 Gates Library Computers (GLC) was completed in June. As can be seen in the chart at the right, GLCs represent about 14% of all public accessible PCs in the state's public libraries. Just over half (233) of the state's public libraries received GLCs. Seven libraries also received computer labs.

Staff Need to Attend Installation Training

The division strongly encourages libraries to have the maximum number of staff members attend the training sessions offered by Gates staff as part of the library's GLC installation. This will not only help staff become familiar with the Gates Library Computers, but attendance also determines the amount of funding the state will receive from the Gates Foundation for the two follow-up training grants (see the Staying Connected... section below). For one training grant the state will receive $150 for every staff person that attends the installation training workshops, and for the other training grant the state will receive $80 per attendee. Much of the funding awarded to the state will be allocated to the library systems to help them train member library staff on a variety of technologies.

Training Session at Gates Foundation

From January 13-16, 2003, library staff from several Wisconsin libraries or systems attended a training session at the Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle. The training session was divided into two tracks, (1) technical support, and (2) staff training. The technical support track focused on security configuration on the GLCs, Windows administration and troubleshooting tools, and software installation. The staff training track gave participants skills and materials to help them implement training programs to support public access computing in their libraries. This included lesson plan development, training techniques, and designing training materials. Eight library staff attended the technology track and nine attended the staff training track. Staff represented the Brown County Public Library, Madison Public Library, Marathon County Public Library, Racine Public Library, South Central Library System and the state library division.

2002 Updates

Before Your Computer Arrives (BYCA) Workshops (November 2002)

On November 19 the final Before Your Computer Arrives (BYCA) workshop for the Gates Library Computers was held in Sparta. A total of seven BYCA workshops were held around the state starting in the Madison area on November 7. Other sites included Stevens Point, Green Bay, Rhinelander, Ashland, and Eau Claire. A total of 334 library staff attended the workshops.
At least one staff person from each library building getting a Gates computer was required to attend a BYCA workshop.

Distribution of Gates Library Computers (GLC)

Other Information

Grant notification letters from the Gates Foundation have been sent out to Wisconsin public libraries. Of the 233 total library buildings, including branches, eligible for the grants (i.e., buildings serving 10%+ poverty population), all applied and all had their grant accepted.

When your grant letter arrives, review it carefully and sign one copy of the grant agreement form and mail it to the foundation. Do not fax the form. The foundation needs at copy with an original signature. The foundation does not require a board signature. The signature of the director is fine. If library policy requires that the form be signed by your board president, and you cannot get this signature by the September 20 deadline, then contact Shella Mapili (206-709-3204) at the Gates Foundation and explain your circumstances. Once the form is signed and mailed to the foundation, deposit the check in your municipality's regular library account.

The process on how to actually order the PCs, printer, etc., will be explained in detail at the Before Your Computer Arrives Workshops (BYCA) in November. At least one staff from each library must attend one of the seven BYCA workshops to be held around the state. The dates and locations for these workshops should be finalized about mid-Sept. and they will be posted accordingly.

On July 12 division staff submitted a Consolidated Supplemental Training Lab Grant to the Gates Foundation for the seven libraries that are applying for a Gates Computer Lab. These libraries are in the following communities: Appleton, Brown County (De Pere branch), Eau Claire, Kenosha, Madison (downtown branch), Marathon County (Wausau branch), and Racine. All of these libraries have submitted individual applications to the DLTCL. 5. This grant application has been approved.

Gates Grant Background

Wisconsin is in the last tier of states to be included in the Gates Foundation grants to public libraries. In brief, libraries that meet the following criteria are eligible to receive PCs as part of the grant.

1. Libraries recognized by the state library agency as a public library.
2. Libraries that serve an area of greater than 10 percent poverty based on 1990 U.S. census data and using the foundation's methodology (this is the SPOV# on the eligibility list).
3. Libraries that have not previously received a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant.

Over the past month division staff have been exchanging information with foundation staff related to library eligibility. Foundation staff recently sent the division an Excel file listing the eligible libraries and the number of PCs they can receive. This list is linked below.

Excel File of Library Eligibility for Gates Grant

The PCs are distributed based on population served as shown above. In addition, each library can receive a content server and laser printer. Note also the following:

• Libraries with a service population less than 10% poverty can purchase PCs at $2,355 each (current price)
• The PCs come with Windows 2000, Microsoft Office and various software programs (see Technical specifications below)
• The PCs must be available to the public and must have Internet connectivity (dial-up or direct)
• Software is eligible for limited upgrades for 3 years, subject to any licensing restrictions on the reference and children's titles
• Foundation support staff will conduct several workshops in Wisconsin related to use of the Gates PCs.
• Toll-free phone support is provide for the first year with limited support in years two and three
• The following possible costs are not covered by the grant: Staffing, furniture or remodeling, telecommunications, any non-granted hardware or software.

Fifty two percent of the library buildings in the state are eligible for the PCs. If all libraries participate and receive their maximum allotment of PCs, almost 20% of the Internet PCs in the state will then be supplied by the foundation. Foundation staff estimate the total monetary value to Wisconsin public libraries will be about $2.89 million.

See also the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Website

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If you have questions, please let me know.

Bob Bocher, Technology Consultant
Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning
Public Library Development
125 S. Webster St., Box 7841, Madison, WI 53707-7841
(608-266-2127, fax 608-267-1052)
robert.bocher@dpi.wi.gov

February 2007