Watertown library seeks grant funds for major technology upgrade

Libraries across the nation are getting a rare opportunity to access grant funds as part of the American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Joe Biden.

South Dakota will receive 2.2 million to be distributed to school, public and academic libraries.

“The school libraries got the first round when applying for the funds,” said Watertown Regional Library Director Deirdre Whitman. “The public libraries are the second week, and the academic libraries are the third. The libraries have access to anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000. That’s very atypical for libraries.”

Whitman approached the city council for approval in requesting $60,000 of the available stimulus grant funds from the state.

“Technology is at the forefront of a lot of the things that we do,” Whitman said during the May 17 city council meeting.

The Watertown Regional Library is looking to purchase new radio frequency identification software with the $60,000 if it's awarded.

“This project will greatly improve staff time. It will improve checking materials in and out, managing our inventory and will provide a new experience for our patrons with a new self-checkout kiosk,” Whitman said.

The library currently has a self-checkout kiosk, but the new one will be more interactive and functional for library patrons. The kiosk will allow people to manage library materials, access interactive library maps and access upcoming events.

Whitman also wants to continue helping the community by providing alternative locations to check out library materials.

“The big takeaway for the (radio frequency identification) technology is that it will enable us to have future projects at different places within the community,” she said. “We would like to get library vending machines, and we cannot do that without this technology. We have a lot of goals to reach out to the community more. That’s the big picture.”

While the library vending machines are not part of the $60,000 grant project, the new technology will allow this to become a reality for Watertown in the future.

The CARES Act also provided a small amount of grant money to local public libraries. The Watertown Regional Library purchased five Wi-Fi hotspots and 10 Samsung tablets that can be checked out for a week with that money.

The tablets do not have data plans but can be taken home and connected to a home network and used to apply for jobs, complete school work and more.

The Wi-Fi hotspots have been a popular item since they were made available a few weeks ago.

“They have been well-received, and we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about them,” said Whitman.

She is still waiting to hear back on the requested $60,000 approval but expects that she should have a response soon.

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