By Daily Press staff
While the main library is closed, a temporary computer technology center for kids will be set up.
The Santa Monica Public Library Youth Services Department received a grant of $25,000 from Verizon, to be used for the creation of a portable computer technology center for teenagers and children while the Main Library is rebuilt and public access computers will be at a premium.
The money will go toward the purchase of laptop computers and specialized software, as well as toward hiring instructors to teach several multi-week classes on topics such as SAT preparation and Web site development.
The portable technology center will serve as a resource for online tutoring; Internet research; word processing; training in the use of the library catalog and databases, and the creation of a Web site designed by and for Santa Monica teenagers, according to young adult librarian Catherine Ronan, who authored the grant proposal.
Verizon literacy spokesperson and “Wheel of Fortune” hostess Vanna White visited the library to personally present the check. She also took the opportunity to read a story, “The Adventures of Capitol Kitty,” to a room full of third-grade students from John Muir Elementary School. The book’s author, First Lady of California Sharon Davis, was in attendance as well.
Three of the students, Kyra Sweeney, Kinda Jarmakani, and Christina Battaglia, were chosen to appear on “Wheel of Fortune,” taped the previous day.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 10, 2002. Read the original PDF.