Memorial Library receives grant for newspaper project

State Sen. Mark Grisanti, who represents the Island in the New York State Senate, visited Grand Island Memorial Library on Sept. 23. Lynn Alan Konovitz, director of Memorial Library, 1715 Bedell Road, said Grisanti gave libraries like Grand Island's extra funding aid, which Memorial Library used for computer hardware.

During the visit, pictured, Sheryl Knab, left, executive director, and Karlin Chase, digital services librarian, of the Western New York Library Resources Council showed Grisanti the website at whichwww.NewYorkHeritage.org has stored digital collections of state newspapers, including the Island Dispatch. Issues of the Dispatch from 1998 to 2008 are searchable online free, Knab said.

"Through our aid we are able to give money back to our member libraries, like Lynn's, to digitize this newspaper," Knab said.

Konovitz said there are 40 more years of Dispatch editions to go.