American Go E-Journal

The American Go Foundation (AGF) launched its new website on Friday, June 22. “This is a complete redesign and makeover of the site,” says AGF Vice President Paul Barchilon, who led the project. “We want to make it easy for any teacher, librarian or enthusiast to start a club in their community. We also want everyone to know about all our different services — our newsletter; matching grants that help new programs get up to $400 worth of equipment; our free Starter Sets; Tigersmouth, our moderated online hangout for young players ; free Hikaru No Go manga for public libraries; fiscal agency; and more.” Barchilon began working with web designer Lee Gentry in January, aiming to go live in time for the AGF’s tabling of The American Library Association’s annual convention.  “More than 20,000 librarians attended ALA last weekend, and we hope many of them will look at the site and realize how valuable, and easy, a go program can be.” Barchilon is looking for feedback from users. “Any new rollout has bugs, typos, omissions, etc. Please tell us what’s wrong by using this brief survey form. We want the site to be perfect.” The AGF receives no foundation or government support and relies solely on donations.