Charity and government department fund library link-up

A private, family-run charity and the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have made available almost £3m to link up public libraries nationwide.

The Public Libraries Challenge Fund, which manages the money on behalf of the Wolfson Foundation and the DCMS, yesterday announced the names of 21 local councils that have successfully applied for library grants. The network will be linked to the Government's National Grid for Learning.

"This should help libraries along, but we will need a lot more funds before they are all linked up," said Margaret Croucher, research analyst at the British Library Research and Innovation Centre, which administers the Fund's finances.

This is the second year of a three year scheme. Last year, £3m was distributed to local councils, and a further £3m will follow next year. The Wolfson Foundation pays £1m each year, and the DEPC funds the remaining £2m.

Research into sources of future funding is being led by the Library and Information Commission, which will report to the Government in the next few weeks.

The report will include technical advice on how to set up a complete network between the libraries. "Some of them are already linking up," said Croucher, "and these will be used as models for the nationwide network."

Whilst the Public Libraries Challenge Fund will not complete its network for a few years, it does put Britain ahead of some European countries.

"There is concern across Europe that public libraries are not as active [in the IT market] as their academic counterparts," Lorcan Dempsey, director of the UK Office for Library and Information Networking (UKOLN), told Silicon News.

"There is, however, a lot of development in Nordic countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands, due to strong public service funding."