The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced the Public Access Computer Hardware Upgrade Grant Program. Michigan is one of the early states that participated in the Foundation's U.S. Statewide Partnership program six years ago, in which public libraries received public access computers that are not able to be upgraded and cannot be maintained well because of the limited technical assistance available.

This new one-time upgrade grant program was designed to help libraries serving disadvantaged communities replace and upgrade public access computers, including hardware and software, to better meet the needs of their communities.