[OPLINTECH] Gates grant application - what to expect? & integrating Gates with other public computers?

[Phil Shirley]

My thanks go to the people who responded privately with info on this 
round of Gates Grants.  Dan Will pointed me to this web site that 
provides the basic info, which I found very helpful (and which I should 
have found myself):

http://oh.webjunction.org/ohgates

Unlike the Gates grants from a few years ago (this is apparently the 
second time the Gates Foundation has offered this kind of grants), this 
time they give you money to spend and there's no "Gates computer" setup 
- you buy what you want and set it up like you want.  (First round of 
funding requires a 25% match.)  I think you get $2,500 per computer they 
think you need, which covers buying it, buying peripherals, supporting 
it, training staff, etc.  Computers that you bought less than 4 years 
ago are considered up to date.  In addition to the up-to-date-ness of 
your computers, they also consider the number of low-income individuals 
your library serves.

The Gates Foundation partners with intermediaries to administer the 
grants, and the State Library is the intermediary for us.

Phil

Phil Shirley wrote:
> Could you share your experiences and/or point me to any sources of info 
> you know of regarding my questions below?  Thanks.
> 
> I have no experience with getting Gates grant computers.  We were 
> contacted recently and told we met the "first level of eligibility
> for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Opportunity Online Hardware
> Grant program."  I have submitted an inventory of our public access 
> computers as required for the next step, but I have no way to know what 
> might result, and I'd really, really like to know for planning purposes. 
>   Can anyone give me any idea?
> 
> Factors that could affect what we get: We have 52 public access 
> computers, and all but 5 are at least 4 years old (but we're going to do 
> something about that soon).  We have a levy so we're not desperately 
> poor (but of course we would welcome free or discounted equipment).
> 
> Does anyone have any idea what I might expect, or could you share your 
> experiences?
> 
> I don't know what's possible in terms of how many machines they might 
> offer us or what if any cost they would be.  Maybe they'll give us 52 
> free computers?  Maybe they'll say we can get 5 computers at 25% off 
> retail price?  Maybe it won't be worth the trouble?
> 
> I'm also wondering about how these will integrate with our other public 
> computers.  I've seen some old Gates computers at another library and I 
> have some idea what to expect: I think that these come ready-to-go, just 
> set the network settings if necessary and plug 'em in, with lots of MS 
> software and their own "server" to manage them - so, I suppose you could 
> put them out like this and not include them in your Windows domain, your 
> print management / waiting list software, etc.  I also believe that 
> maybe you can erase the hard drives and use the hardware in any way you 
> want as log as it's as a public access computer, although it seems like 
> it would be nice to have the pre-installed software (I don't know if you 
> get the install disks for it or not?).
> 
> Finally, I have no idea how long the process takes or how long it takes 
> to get the machines - whether we might have them in 3 months or a year - 
> and of course this is probably something that nobody can really predict.
> 
> Thanks for any help you can give me.
> 
> Phil

-- 

Phil Shirley
Technology Services Coordinator
Cuyahoga Falls Library
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
330-928-2117, ext. 109
pshirley at CuyahogaFallsLibrary dot org

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