British Columbia libraries receive $2.5 million from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

VICTORIA, British Columbia -- B.C.'s public libraries will receive a $2.5 million gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Municipal Affairs Minister Jim Doyle announced today.

The grant will be used to buy computer equipment, improve Internet access and provide computer-training facilities for library staff and the public.

Separately, Microsoft Canada will provide software with a retail value of $1.02 million to libraries receiving Foundation grants. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides funding to public libraries throughout Canada and the United States to narrow the gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not. In conjunction with existing provincial programs, this grant will help increase access to computer technology for all British Columbians.

"For several years now, the province and public libraries have worked in partnership to increase access to computers and the Internet for all B.C. residents," said Doyle. "This funding brings us closer to achieving our goal of access to this technology for everyone. On behalf of the province, I want to thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for its generosity."

The grant will fund 401 workstations in 101 library branches across the province. Libraries in Nanaimo, Burnaby, Kamloops and Kelowna will also receive computer-training labs that each contain 11 workstations.

"The Internet is a doorway to vast quantities of information," said Paul Whitney, chief librarian at the Burnaby public library. "The training lab will help us open that door for more members of this community to take advantage of information on the Web."

In addition to grants to public libraries, the province's library services branch will receive a mobile computer-training lab. The lab will be used to train library staff in the regional centres and then travel to public libraries throughout B.C. to provide computer training to the public.

In a July 1999 study of Internet use by households, Statistics Canada noted that while computer use has increased nationwide, there is a wage gap between those with access to technology and the Internet and those without. Individuals in the highest income households are nearly five times more likely to use computer communications than those in the lowest-income households.