Get a lift onto the I-way at your library

MCI Telecommunications Corp. and the American Library Association have developed LibraryLink, a program designed to create a universal service approach to Internet access and other high-tech applications for libraries, schools and communities around the country.

"The goal of the program is to give libraries the ability to get technology up and running so their community can enjoy the vast resources of the information infrastructure," said Lora Dietrich, manager of community relations at MCI.

LibraryLink, which is in its second year, recently issued grants to nine new cities, which join eight cities that received grants last year. MCI Foundation issued grants of up to $30,000 each to the primary library systems in Austin, Texas; Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Portland, Ore.; Richmond, Va.; Springfield, Mo.; Tampa; Dallas and Baltimore.

Each community has a unique technology program, Dietrich said. The libraries choose the hardware, software or telecommunications services needed to achieve their programs' goals. The Bernalillo County Public Library in Albuquerque, N.M., which received $20,000 from the first round of grants, used the funds to install telephone lines for 60 city and county public elementary schools in disadvantaged and rural areas, said Margaret Monsour, deputy executive director of the reference and adult services division at the American Library Association, Chicago.

Students use the telephone lines to access the Internet and the library's card catalog, and to apply for library cards and check out books, which are then delivered to the appropriate school, Monsour said. Hillsborough County in Tampa is using its grant to enhance its Internet access capabilities with software that supports graphics for the public library system's computers. One of the county's public libraries is in the Science and Industry Museum in Tampa. That library has access to satellite imagery and maps that it now can share with other libraries in the county using the new software.

The public library in Cedar Falls expanded its Internet access by building a Web Forum for city government. "The library is the catalyst for building and mounting the Web pages on the Internet," Monsour said. Cedar Falls residents can log on the Internet and talk with the mayor from a terminal in one of the libraries or from home, she said.

Based on their location, certain library systems are invited to apply for LibraryLink grants, Monsour said. Those that propose innovative and cutting-edge ideas become eligible to receive grants, Dietrich said. MCI Foundation will donate more than $750,000 during the three-year program to help libraries, particularly those that cannot afford computers or Internet service, become more technologically sophisticated. Today, only about 28% of libraries in the country are connected to the Internet. In 1997, MCI and the American Library Association will choose at least eight more cities to join the LibraryLink program.

Those in the education and telecommunications industries have long discussed the possibility of making Internet access at schools and libraries a universal service that would be subsidized by federal funds. But most industry experts believe it's more likely that such funds will come from the private sector. "Money for hooking schools and libraries up to the Internet is going to come from telcos and cable companies as a goodwill gesture," said John Aronsohn, senior analyst at The Yankee Group in Boston. "A lot of telecommunications companies will be donating equipment and services, or providing them at reduced prices, to boost their brand image with the public."

For example, Aronsohn said, a carrier might donate Internet services to a public school with the hope that students will go home and tell their parents to order services from that company. "As the communications industry becomes more competitive, things like that will give companies an advantage," he said.

-Associate Editor-News Shira McCarthy contributed to this article.