The Russell County Public Library has been awarded a portion of a $300,000 grant from EBSCO Information Services, which is headquartered in Massachusetts, to install solar panels to offset the library’s electrical demand by a minimum of 40 percent.
The solar panels will help to facilitate an investment in clean energy at the local library.
The local library as well as Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Helmke Library in Indiana and the Maplewood Memorial Library Foundation in New Jersey, are each receiving an EBSCO Solar Grant to pay for the investment in clean energy.
The grants offset the cost of installing solar panels and will allow the libraries to reduce their electricity expenditures.
Russell County Public Library Director Lindsey Westerfield said with the help of the EBSCO Solar grant, the library will be the first civic agency in Russell County to implement a solar energy system, creating an education point for students, government and business leaders and community members.