The setup of five computers for public access to the Internet at the Weyburn Public Library has been completed, and library staff have been taking bookings for computer times since Monday.
The computers, located on the upper floor of the library, were made available through the Weyburn Community Access Project, for which the organizing committee received a grant of $30,000 at the beginning of this year through a federal program of Industry Canada.
In order to control the number of people using the computers, time has to be booked with the library for one-hour sessions up to two days in advance, which can be done by phone or in person, said project co-chair Jeff Barber. When arriving for the booked time, users will check in at the circulation desk with their library card and will then be assigned a computer station.
The focus of the Community Access Centre will be on Internet access, with each station having full access to the World Wide Web with Netscape browser software on the new high-speed Internet line, said Barber. In addition, computer users will have access to word-processing software, simple database and spreadsheet programs, and a few CD-ROM information databases.
"This is not really a culmination, it's more of a beginning. The background work certainly took some time, but the implementation of the Community Access Project is just the first phase," said Barber.
The Community Access Project will continue its development in the fall, as the project partners will set up training programs for using the Internet, and will work on developing web and e-mail services to the community, said Barber. Also, work will continue on hooking up all of the project partners to the project centre and to the high-speed Internet line.
The partners will be deciding how to approach web page development and e-mail services, to be made available by the end of September or early October.
"The CAP focus is on community access, but also it's also from the point of view of making community information available to the world outside on the Internet, so people who want a view of the community can go through and all the organizations of the community will have the opportunity to have a presence on the Internet," said Barber.
The program development will also be assisted by the hiring of a person for 12 weeks this fall through the CAP Youth '98 program from Industry Canada, possibly by the end of September or early October. This person will be developing web services for the project, working with Internet training and also acting as a resource person to the community for computer and Internet-related information, such as updating people on computer problems associated with the upcoming year 2000.
The CAP partners include the Central, Public and Roman Catholic school divisions, Southeast Regional College, Southeast Regional Library, Weyburn Public Library, Southeast Regional Economic Development Authority, the City of Weyburn and R.M. of Weyburn.
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