INTERNET ACCESS FOR ALL

    In Warren County, the town of Milo is about twice the size of Orient, but it lost about forty people in the last census. Sonny Weeks, a retired Navy man, says that the people of Milo were undercounted. Sonny is also retired from his second career--running a lawnmower business. He and Paula Griggs were discussing who was missed by the census folks and the number of new houses that had been built over the last ten years. Both were MIRA participants, and Paula has been working in the library for many years. The State Library of Iowa trained Paula in library-related computer skills, and Milo Public Library had Internet access early on, but there was no place for the public to have access, and any connection was a long distance call to Des Moines. "Our group knew from day one that we wanted to have public access in the library," Sonny said. " That's why the training was disappointing. It was not about what we wanted to do. Although the conflict resolution was okay, a lot of the other stuff was political. I would have paid a thousand dollars NOT to have done it. We could have spent our time better." Paula found the training more useful, but they did have trouble choosing the best trainers from the long list posted on the Heartland web site. "We just did not have time to evaluate each one and check their references," she remarked.

After they qualified for part of a $15,000 grant, they bought a computer, scanner, and cart for the library. Because the library was not open much at night, they used part of the money to keep the library open two nights a week for two years. They also had training for the citizens of Milo, and most all who took advantage were over 65 years of age. Paula remarked that a lot of people were introduced to the services in the library, and they felt comfortable going there. Part of that must have been their comfort with Paula who seemed both friendly and very efficient. She said that the Internet had enhanced her ability to serve the people. In six months of this fiscal year she had done more interlibrary loans than all the previous year. Both she and Sonny were looking around for more funds to add a second machine, and through the State Library, they might get some help from the Gates Foundation in the future. This was one more example of where local groups were able to handle their own finances and match the needs of the community to the available funds far better than some distant funding agency in the capital or Washington or Chicago could. They had a good balance of local knowledge, local contacts for matching support, and a constantly revised idea of what was going to work locally.