WATERLOO - Three years and more than 350 public libraries later, a program to move libraries online and connect with younger generations is a success.

Thanks to the State Library of Iowa and a $749,000 "Staying Connected" grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that lasted until 2008, libraries that had merely a phone number and address on their town's Web site now have a fully independent and informative online presence.

"We did have a catalog online, but that was it. The bare bones," said Mary Bucy, library director at Hudson Public Library.

When the State Library first received the Gates Foundation grant and told libraries all they needed was an Internet connection, 275 libraries signed on in the first round to get a Web site, including Hudson.

Two more rounds have been held since then, and a Web search indicated at least 80 public libraries in Northeast Iowa are beneficiaries of the program.

"For anybody who starts a Web site, the main concern is going to be if you can find the time to keep it maintained and updated," Bucy said. "But this was pretty painless."

That's because the State Library of Iowa basically did all the work and continues to fund the program through state and federal appropriations, said Mary Wegner, state librarian at the State Library. They host all of the Web sites on the program including e-mail, offer technical support and training and give grants for Internet connectivity and computer upgrades.

Libraries have to update their own Web sites with new programs and classes. Some, like Grundy Center's Kling Memorial Library, hired a webmaster to help out.

"You can put in book reviews, you can … get downloadable books, library policies are on it (and) you can connect to anything on the Internet," said Kling's library director CJ Thompson. "I know it's used - I get e-mail from out of state from people who want genealogy information."

The State Library applied for and received the grant in 2005 as part of their Putting Libraries on the Web program, Wegner said. The PLOW program is the only one of its kind in the United States.

Libraries in bigger areas, like Waterloo and Cedar Falls, also received and used grant money to build on their pre-existing Web sites, said Kim Van Deest, the network and information literacy coordinator at Waterloo Public Library who also is one of two in the state who trains library employees on the system.

But it's the rural areas that most appreciated the start-up money, she said.

"There was definitely a need for it," Van Deest said. "Lots of small-town libraries would never have had a Web presence without this, I can tell you that."