The Internet is expanding to local libraries under a grant from the Idaho State Library Board.

Coeur d’Alene Public Library, Kootenai County District Libraries, the Post Falls Public Library and 40 other Idaho libraries will all participate in a pilot project to provide telecommunications links to the Internet, a worldwide network of computer databases.

The $375,000 grant will also pay for training and support to assist libraries in making Internet resources accessible to the public.

The Educational Technology Initiative of 1994 is the first state funding appropriated by the Idaho Legislature for public libraries in several years, according to the Idaho State Library.