The Galena Kansas Public Library

Galena, Kansas, is named for the lead and zinc ore that once drove a thriving local mining economy and more recently brought a Heavy Metal Superfund cleanup to town. The Tri-State Mining District closed years ago, and these days the 3,000 residents travel to the next town to work and shop. Surrounded by farmland, the town sits on Route 66 in southeast Kansas, nestled against Missouri and a stone’s throw from Oklahoma.

Like much of rural America, this part of Kansas was busy feeding the country when the Internet revolution passed through town. With typical Internet penetration below 50 percent, Galena and other rural communities look to their libraries to connect them to the electronic world.

With a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Galena Public Library recently installed its first computers and now offers free access to the Internet. Since the library is centrally located—right in the Municipal Building on 7th Street—it serves as an ideal community access point.

“Patrons have been asking us to provide computers and Internet service for several years,” says chief librarian Nellie Hoskins. “Many in our town depend on us to connect them with technology because they can’t afford it themselves.”

As one of the leading local experts in the region’s genealogy, Margaret Aitken, 80, often fields requests about ancestry from around the world. Now she searches for family roots on a library computer.

Nine-year-old Brittany likes the library computer access because “you can look up anything.” She is schooled by her grandmother and has no computer at home.

For Olivia, 11, and her family, the Galena library provides a vital electronic connection to a worldwide patient community. After two surgeries for Olivia’s cerebral palsy, her family often turns to the library computers to research treatment options and access online support groups. Not many local families share their experience. Now they can lean on an extended “family” around the world for the burdens they carry.

By the end of 2003, the foundation will have funded approximately 40,000 public access computers in nearly 10,000 libraries. The effort brings the advantages of the digital age to disadvantaged communities in all 50 states— communities like Galena, the one-time mining center on Route 66.