LOCAL libraries have been given a £56,000 hi-tech boost which could benefit children, the poor and ethnic minorities.

Bury has beaten off competition to win cash from the Government's new Challenge Fund, which co-incides with National Libraries Week.

The borough is one of only six areas in the North West to receive money from the fund, which comprises cash from the Government and from the Wolfson Foundation.

Only 30 schemes in Britain were successful out of 96 applications.

Bury's grant of £56,150 is exactly half of the total cost of the scheme: the council will find the remainder.

The first of three improvements has an "access the future" theme aimed at helping groups who don't tend to have computers or the Internet. These include disabled people, the unemployed, ethnic minorities and women.

Bosses also want to extend recent hi-tech developments within Bury Library with improved CD-Rom networking, aimed at giving children better access through the reference library.

The third aspect is to bring the Internet to other branches in Radcliffe, Ramsbottom, Prestwich and Whitefield.

Mr John Carter, libraries manager, said: "We're only a small library service compared with most other areas, so I'm very pleased that in competitive bidding we met the criteria and were considered worthwhile."

Officers have to spend the money in the current financial year, so work will start immediately.

The awards, worth £3 million nationwide, were announced by the Government's culture secretary Chris Smith.

"Libraries are a precious community resource, and this announcement is good news for the library system as a whole," he said.

"It clearly demonstrates this Government's commitment to a modern and vibrant public library service capable of taking us into the 21st century.

"All these schemes are designed to improve the services provided to all library users and I hope it will encourage more people to make use of the services our libraries can offer."

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