Feds Giving $300,000 To Illinois Libraries
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- The federal government will help 65 Illinois libraries put their communities to work.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has awarded $300,000 to the Illinois State Library, which will be split in the form of technology packages costing roughly $4,000. They'll include computers, projectors and business software, etc.
Illinois State Library spokesman Pat McGuckin says the libraries can choose to lend out their new equipment, or keep it in house.
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"It can create a business tool, it can create a marketing plan, that kind of thing," he says. "They can use this kind of thing to hold seminars, an entrepreneur can come to the library and conceivably use that equipment to have a seminar, and maybe pool some resources, get some financial support, that kind of thing."
McGuckin says not all libraries that applied for the packages received them. They have to serve areas with high jobless or poverty rates, and present a demonstrated need for the equipment.
The state library will monitor the individual libraries' uses of the technology to ensure they're getting the most out of it. McGuckin anticipates they'll get the equipment soon.
