Boston Public Library and partners win broadband stimulus

The Boston Public Library (BPL) partnered with the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) and Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) to win $1.9 million in the first round of broadband stimulus awards in early December. The BPL plans to add at least 281 public terminals for accessing the Internet. Among the winning application's promises was to organize a schedule of Internet usage classes to go with the new computers.

"I can't emphasize enough that it's more important to teach people how to use this stuff effectively, rather than just plugging the terminals in and saying, ‘Good luck,'" said Thomas Blake, digital projects manager for the BPL...