FOLEY – The Foley Public Library will soon be upgrading their computer lab thanks to a Library Services and Technology Act Grant that they have received. The grant is for $15,000 and is …
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FOLEY – The Foley Public Library will soon be upgrading their computer lab thanks to a Library Services and Technology Act Grant that they have received. The grant is for $15,000 and is administered by the Alabama Public Library Services.
Even though the grant was under what they initially anticipated, thanks to other funds they are able to follow through with their plans.
“We set out to try to get $50,000 to try to replace our entire computer lab,” said John Jackson, Library Director. He later learned that the whole state had been reduced by a certain amount, but the setback doesn’t hinder the library from moving forward.
“It works out in the end because IT had money available to purchase some computers for us,” said Jackson.
With the money offered by IT, the grant, and a smaller amount that the library will have to throw in, the entire computer lab is on its way to being replaced.
“So we came up short on what we wanted to get, but it’s enough to get the job done,” said Jackson.
The library currently has computers that run off Windows 7, and they were looking to upgrade computers before switching to Windows 10, something they believe they need to do soon. Jackson fears that next year the support for Windows 7 will be obsolete, and the library members don’t want to be stuck in that situation.
“I think by the first of the new year we can have the computer lab completely upgraded and changed over, which is great for us,” said Jackson.
As for the old computers, Jackson said IT has got that covered.
“IT will get them and I would suspect that what they do is that they would remove the hard drive and then sell them off at that point,” Jackson said. “IT handles it, that’s the great point of having IT now. Before I got here there was no IT department, but that’s what IT can bring to the table … And they do a heck of a job doing that.”
With the grant accepted, Foley Public Library can begin purchasing new computers, with the hopes of completing the project by January 2018.
