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The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Scottish Government Public Libraries Excellence Fund

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made a gift of USD 4M to the United Kingdom, to support ICT in communities. GBP 300,000 of this fund was identified for Scotland and The Scottish Government committed a further GBP 300,000 to the project, enabling enhanced learning opportunities to be delivered directly into areas of significant social deprivation.

Every Scottish local authority with a SIP area had the opportunity to bid for funding to encourage the use of ICT in public libraries in the area. The resources are used to support innovative library based projects, taking account of the needs of SIP residents, to encourage the wider access to the benefits of ICT technologies.

Fourteen authorities made successful bids to the fund and each project takes a different approach to extending ICT in communities.