When Sai Rao took over as the director of the North Bergen Public Library two years ago, one of her first ideas was to institute a computer literacy program. “It was always my wish to establish a computer lab,” Rao said last week. “When the chance came, I didn’t waste a minute. Technology is becoming more and more indispensable and it definitely represents the future.” In order to establish the program, Rao was going to have to find the necessary funding. She then set out on an extensive search for federal and state grants, and she examined the possibility of receiving donations to offset the cost. Finally, after eight months of precise planning and grant requests, Rao received word that the library was awarded a $20,000 grant from the New Jersey State Library in order to establish computer training centers in public libraries. “It was like a dream come true for me,” Rao said. Last Tuesday, Rao hosted a reception that presented the new computer training center to the community for the first time. The state-of-the-art center features four computers, multimedia instructional equipment and a DSL Internet connection. It also has an interactive television system that will allow the North Bergen library to hook up with other libraries via a network. The computer system is the first of its kind in New Jersey, and North Bergen was the first library to receive the funding from the state library. “It is totally amazing,” Rao said. “If connected properly, we can share our libraries together. We can have people at other libraries taking the computer classes at the same time with North Bergen and Guttenberg residents. It’s an exciting time for our library, and to realize it’s the first in the state makes it even more exciting.” Now that the computers are in place, Rao can begin to teach residents computer basics. “They can practice and enjoy the latest computer technology,” Rao said. Rao said that she already has 70 people who have registered for the free computer training classes. “All we have to do is open the doors and we’ll be all set,” Rao said. Rao said that interested cardholding residents will be taught an introductory course on basic personal computer use and function, like Microsoft Word and Excel, Internet searching strategies and specialized lessons designed on a per-month basis. It’s a common perception that the majority of students being taught how to surf the Internet are youngsters who use it as a learning tool for school. However, Rao said that the majority of the interested students for her computer classes are adults, especially senior citizens. “The first few people who signed up were seniors,” Rao said. “One woman said she had a grandson in college and she wanted to learn how to send him e-mail. Another wanted to share recipes with her daughter, who doesn’t live nearby. I don’t think seniors are as intimidated by technology as they once were. We’re trying to make the computers as user-friendly as possible.” North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, who attended the opening ceremonies, was very impressed with the computer lab. “We needed to provide this kind of service to the community,” Sacco said. “So many people are not computer literate and this program and lab will go to help solve the problem. I commend Sai and the library board for receiving this grant for making this possible. This is a high-tech system that we don’t even have in the schools.” Sacco is hopeful that a lot of the senior citizens in the township and in Guttenberg will take advantage of the lab. “More people who are now retired could take the time to take the classes,” Sacco said. “I think more seniors are getting used to it now and realize that it’s something to enjoy. I hope others realize that it’s not difficult and as soon as they get familiar with it, they’ll see that it’s certainly vital and essential. If they can learn how to enjoy using the Internet, their lives will be richer.” Rao firmly believes that the computer training classes are just the start of better things to come for the library. “This is just the beginning,” Rao said. “We definitely have a bright future.”
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
