Hi, all.

As Norma announced during the webinar on July 7, NJSL is the recipient of a BTOP grant that will benefit potentially all public libraries in New Jersey. The funds from this grant will help in the economic recovery of the state by giving libraries the tools they need to expand services to the unemployed and underemployed.

On behalf of all the people at the State Library that worked on this grant, thank you in advance for partnering with us on this important project.

Best wishes, Victoria

Victoria Rosch Associate State Librarian New Jersey State Library vrosch@PROTECTED
609.278.2640 ext.157

Action steps for public libraries:

\x95 If your library is on the attached spreadsheet, please email Janice Holt at jholt@PROTECTED to confirm that you still wish to participate (or do not wish to participate). Please put in the subject line \x93BTOP - the name of your library.\x94 Please note that inclusion in this list for receipt of workstations and/or broadband upgrade was based on your answers to the January 2010 survey. \x95 If your library is not included on the attached spreadsheet, there is nothing you need to do at this point. All New Jersey public libraries will be contacted at a later date to establish a mutually convenient training schedule, and receive information and/or training in how to use the content provided by NJN. \x95 If after reading the rest of this message you have any technical questions, please contact Janice Holt at jholt@PROTECTED.

NJSL BTOP Grant Award

Summary

\x95 All public libraries in New Jersey will be able to participate in library staff training and training for patrons whether or not they responded to the January 2010 survey. Training will include job search assistance and workforce development programs. A consortium of community colleges will deliver training using existing curriculum. Residents will receive online content and training developed by NJN.

\x95 124 libraries will receive additional workstations (PCs or laptops) so that each library will equal or approach the national average of 3.55 public computers per 5,000 of population. A limit has been established that no library will receive more new workstations than the number of computers the library had at the time of the survey.

\x95 79 libraries will receive an upgrade to 10mbps of broadband via Ethernet. These libraries were selected based on their responses to the January 2010 survey.

Timeline

\x95 The grant will run from July 2010 until June 2013

\x95 Patron and library staff training will take place from October 2010 until October 2012.

\x95 Purchase and delivery of additional public computers to 124 libraries will take place from October through December 2011.

\x95 Broadband upgrades for 79 libraries will take place from January 2011 until June 2011.

Background Information

New Jersey State Library received $5.1 million grant from the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) and matching funds of $1.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave an additional $150,000 to the New Jersey State Library to support E-rate technical assistance, which will help sustain the project\x92s services.

The goal of the program is to help in the economic recovery of the state by giving libraries the tools they need to expand services to the unemployed and underemployed by enhancing broadband capability and workstations in New Jersey libraries so they can become strategic job-creating facilities providing increased availability of job search assistance and workforce development programs.

It is estimated that more than 5 million New Jersey residents will be served through this initiative over the three years of the grant project.

Scope of the Project

\x95 Offer affordable pricing for high-speed Internet access services to libraries from the state\x92s major service providers \x95 Serve up to an additional 22,500 computer users weekly, offer in-person training for as many as 12,800 residents over the life of the project, and provide online content and databases to the approximately 440,000 unemployed and 230,000 underemployed residents of New Jersey \x95 Provide up to 938 new workstations to libraries across the state.

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to [list_name] using example@PROTECTED.

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://lists.njstatelib.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address. Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism.

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

http://lists.njstatelib.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/[list]

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:mwarfel@PROTECTED>