Mass Broadband grant to bring devices to Lakeville via Wareham hub, board told

Chair Patrick Marshall told the Lakeville Library Board on Jan. 28 that a combined Wareham–Lakeville Mass Broadband Institute award was approved in December and will supply devices to local libraries. Director Jennifer Jones said the award will replace public computers, add laptops and include printers requested in the application.

Marshall and Jones said the equipment delivery will use Wareham as the hub: devices will be sent to Wareham and then distributed to Lakeville. Based on information in the transcript, delivery to the hub is expected in March or April; the board did not provide an exact delivery date at the meeting.

Jones and trustees noted the grant satisfies a Mass Broadband Institute minimum of 30 devices and thanked staff who helped prepare application materials. Jones also said grant administration required some rewriting to switch responses between Lakeville and Wareham during the joint application process.

Trustees discussed that the award should reduce the library’s need to pay to replace aging equipment and will support public-access computing and laptop lending.