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Published on 10/19/1998 All articles from this issue

Libraries receive $200,000 from founder of Infoseek founder

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By Clyde Noel

Special to the Town Crier

When Steve Kirsch went to the Los Altos main library to get information on the Internet, he found all the computer terminals in use. So he asked Santa Clara County Library officials how he could help.

Kirsch, the founder and chairman of Infoseek, donated $200,000 to the county library system to replace Internet-enabled terminals in all 10 county libraries.

"The library is a crucial place to go for information and the computer is the heart of the library," Kirsch said. "In this age of the Internet, there aren't enough computers for the people who visit the library."

Last Thursday, the Santa County Library officially honored the Infoseek chairman and Los Altos area resident for his donation at Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino.

Kirsch and his wife, Michele, maintain the Steve and Michele Kirsch Fund, a $7 million fund at the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley. The fund focuses on worthwhile causes in which a significant impact can be made. Grants have been made to both local and national nonprofit organizations with a focus on Northern California organizations.

"We're very grateful to Steve," said Susan Fuller, county librarian. "This welcome donation will allow us to upgrade our computers to Microsoft Windows NT."

Fuller said the new terminals and network are scheduled to be up and running in the system in early 1999.

County libraries first offered Internet access to patrons in 1994, and the terminals have become so busy that a 30-minute time limit is enforced at library Internet terminals. Patrons have access to an Internet terminal with both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers.

Terminals are in both the children's and general sections of the libraries. The Internet terminals available in the children's section of the library are equipped with filtering software.