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The Gates Library Foundation, set up in 1997 by Bill and Melinda Gates to provide equipment and training to public libraries in low-income communities, was reorganized in early February as an initiative of a new umbrella organization, the Gates Learning Foundation. Richard Akeroyd, executive director of the Gates Library Initiative, told American Libraries that the foundation's “goals remain the same, the amount of funding remains the same, and the way we operate remains the same for public libraries in the United States and Canada.”
A new Gates Education Initiative, formerly the Teacher Leadership Project, will continue to fund access to computer technology in schools within the state of Washington and may expand to other states in the future. Akeroyd said this “does not mean that the public library program will be funding the education initiative; there will be new money made available from Bill and Melinda.”
The Technology Resource Institute is now grouped with the two initiatives as the Gates Center for Technology Access.
Posted February 8, 1999.
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