YAKIMA, Wash. -- Several Yakima Valley government agencies will receive new high-speed Internet service or upgrades, thanks to a federal grant.

But Yakima Valley Libraries is still waiting to hear whether a second round of the same funding will provide improved Internet access for the Nile library, which has remained closed, in part, because of a technology change.

The grant award, announced earlier this month, came from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which distributed $84 million to Northwest Open Access Network as part of a federal effort to provide economic stimulus through the improved Internet service, known as broadband.

Northwest Open Access Network, or NoaNet, was the lead applicant for other agencies, including the state of Washington and Yakima County. The county partnered with Yakima Valley Community College, the South Central WorkForce Council and Yakima Valley Libraries.

The workforce council is a nonprofit board that provides training and other services for job seekers and employers in Kittitas, Yakima, Klickitat and Skamania counties. Its funding comes from state and federal grants.

Yakima County received about $824,000 to extend its network backbone between major connections. That makes it easier for nearby agencies wanting better service to link to the backbone.

The expanded network will run from Mabton to Sunnyside, providing broadband service for the Sunnyside WorkSource Center and Sunnyside library.

In Grandview, the network will be extended to connect Yakima Valley Community College's Grandview campus to the school's Yakima campus.

Mollie Ailene, integration project coordinator for the workforce council, said the overall project will add about 900 miles of fiber network throughout Washington.

That will mean better Internet access for about 300,000 rural residents between Yakima and the Oregon border, Ailene said. Without a nearby connection, obtaining broadband access can be prohibitively expensive for residents in underserved areas.

The state library also announced that libraries in Moxee, Sunnyside and White Swan, as well as the downtown and Summitview branches in Yakima, will get new or improved broadband service under the grant.

George Helton, director of technology services for Yakima County, said it could be several months before he hears whether access to the Nile is funded in the grant's second round.

The Nile library branch closed in October because of a massive landslide that buried State Route 410. Yakima Valley Libraries officials then decided to keep the branch closed indefinitely after upgrading the other libraries from an older type of Internet service to a systemwide high-speed connection. That type of secure access is not available in the Nile, library officials say.

Even if the Nile area is supported with broadband, interim library director Kim Hixson says she will need to consider whether the small library costs too much money for the number of active users -- fewer than 200 a year. The library's most active users have switched to the Naches branch, Hixson said.

The future of the Nile branch will be part of a sytemwide strategic analysis expected to take place this year. The process will include community meetings.

A group of Nile residents opposes closure of the branch.

* Mark Morey can be reached at 577-7671 or by mmorey@yakimaherald.com.