Digital Information Network

Funding

Government Funding

Total: $3,321,725

The City of New York, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mayor, and Peter F. Vallone, Speaker of the City Council: $2,600,000

United States Department of Commerce/Telecommunications Information Infrastructure Assistance
Program (TIIAP): $500,000

New York State Advanced Telecommunications Project/Bell Atlantic Diffusion Fund: $221,725
 

Private Funding

The John Morgridge Foundation, a California-based not-for-profit organization founded by Cisco Systems’
Chairman, donated an additional $100,000 in equipment. This funding was added after the project was
already underway.

What is TIIAP?

The Branch Libraries received a grant of $500,000 from tiiap to help upgrade the branch tele-
communications lines to 20 branches, based on their location, local population, and current literacy
programming. This upgrade will ensure that all branches will have high-speed access to the Internet,
the Library's catalogs, and other electronic resources. The purpose of the grant is to provide access
to images, graphics, and sound via the World Wide Web so that individuals with limited literacy
skills can more easily gain access to user-friendly electronic resources. Resources such as websites and
databases that rely more heavily on images, icons, and recorded sound are more appropriate for
adult learners.

The 20 participating branches will provide training to literacy students and providers in the use
of these new electronic resources. Branches will host six training sessions from September 1998
to September 1999, for a total of 120 classes and approximately 1,200 to 1,800 individuals trained
throughout the system. The two types of training sessions are those that are open to any adult
with limited English literacy skills and those for students in a specific literacy program in a
branch's community.

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pro: th: 9-16-98

thoerenz: pro: 9-21-98