Ocean County Library receives $5,300 grant

A $5,300 grant from the New Jersey State Library, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was awarded to the Ocean County Library to help it continue to provide Internet access to residents of Ocean County.

The Gates Foundation identified Ocean County Library as one of 49 libraries in the state eligible to apply for the "Staying Connected" grant.

According to the foundation's Internet Web site, "the foundation seeks to ensure that all people in the United States have access to a great education and to technology in public libraries."

Use of the grant is specifically limited to help identify computer security issues that cause Internet connectivity problems and to provide at least one computer for public Internet access in the selected libraries.

The Lakewood branch will use the grant to purchase three new computers and expand its current computer services to the public. Two of the new computers will have 21-inch monitors for group viewing.

In 2005 the public computers in Lakewood were used 67,917 times, an average of 5,660 times per month. In 2006 that increased to 87,621 times, an average of 7,300 per month. In the first two months of 2007 Lakewood's 23 computers were used 19,286 times for an average of 9,643 times a month.