August 31, 2010 By Russell Nichols Georgetown County, S.C.,
isn't known as a bustling hub of innovation. But as the county's
library system adopts new technology, residents can connect to a
world beyond their rural community. The Amazon Kindle, the
popular e-book reader, is the latest tool made available at
Georgetown County Library, thanks to a national Library Services
and Technology Act grant. With the $25,000 grant, matched by the
libraries, the county acquired 25 Kindles for onsite use and
about $2,500 worth of e-books. "A library's mission is to
preserve information and make that information available to the
public," said Dwight McInvaill, director of the Georgetown
County Library. "We started out with stone tablets and now we
have Kindles." Across the country in the past decade, the
marriage between technology and libraries has matured with the
rise of interactive gaming and hands-on digital tools. Providing
these types of virtual resources to the public has been one
component of making the case that A