[Libs-Or] FCC Workshop Highlights Need for Higher Capacity Broadband in Rural Libraries

[Diedre Conkling]

http://www.districtdispatch.org/2014/03/fcc-workshop-highlights-need-higher-capacity-broadband-rural-libraries/

FCC Workshop Highlights Need for Higher Capacity Broadband in Rural
Libraries
Posted on March 21, 2014 by Charles Wapner

A farmer in Georgia uses precision agricultural technologies to track and
manage his water usage. A veteran in Florida uses specialized video
conferencing equipment to consult with his physician remotely, saving him
hours in transit to the nearest VA facility. A woman without internet
access in Maine uses her public library's computers to complete her online
MBA. What is the common technology enabling each of these scenarios?
High-capacity broadband.

Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a day-long
workshop <http://www.fcc.gov/events/rural-broadband-workshop> highlighting
the importance of building and deploying broadband technologies in rural
America--and the Georgia farmer, Florida veteran and Maine graduate student
were just a few of the examples an expert morning panel used to illustrate
the ways in which high-speed internet connection is empowering our rural
communities. One of the members of the panel was Linda Lord, Maine State
Librarian and chair of the American Library Association's E-rate Task
Force. Linda discussed the important role broadband plays in allowing
libraries in rural America to serve as one-stop community centers and
drivers of economic prosperity.

Thanks to broadband, people in every part of this country are increasingly
using their libraries to take classes, sign up for health insurance, manage
multi-media content, receive job training and pursue a number of other
self-improvement and creative activities. The use of library broadband for
these purposes is growing at an especially high rate in rural communities,
where poverty is high and home internet service is often poor. Linda Lord
provided an eye-opening example of the new uses of broadband in rural
libraries when she spoke of the innovative way the library in the town of
Cherryfield, Maine is using its high-speed connection to provide local
students with unique new learning opportunities. At the Cherryfield
Library, children in and around a tiny Maine town of 1,200 people can
"visit" a Smithsonian museum located in Washington, D.C. by taking
advantage of broadband-enabled interactive video programming.

Rural libraries now face the challenge of affordably expanding bandwidth to
accommodate increasing usage of their broadband services. We must help them
to meet this challenge not just for the sake of promoting universal access,
but also to establish rural libraries as centers of technological
advancement.
There is an outstanding capacity for innovation in rural America. Look no
further than the example of the Georgia farmer provided by yesterday
morning's panel for an illustration of this point. The technology this man
deployed to monitor his water usage was created by an entrepreneur in the
rural south searching for ways to help farmers make more efficient use of
their inputs. Now, not only is his company expanding within the
agricultural sector, it is also providing broadband services to schools and
private homes.

Time and time again, men and women across rural America have demonstrated
the capacity to imagine the advancements of tomorrow. Libraries must be
able to provide these individuals with the tools they need to bring their
advancements from conception to fruition. From Maine to Mississippi,
libraries need greater high-capacity, scalable broadband bandwidth to
unlock these tools. We hope that Wednesday's workshop will lead to policies
that make stronger connectivity a possibility for libraries everywhere.

In the meantime, the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for
Information Technology Policy is working with Linda Lord and the rest of
the ALA E-rate task force to shape the FCC's ongoing efforts to modernize
the E-rate program, which provides schools and libraries with internet
access and other telecommunications services at discounted rates. ALA is
currently drafting comments to the FCC calling for reforms to the program
that will ensure that libraries across the country have access to the
scalable broadband they need to serve their communities in the digital age.


http://www.districtdispatch.org/2014/03/fcc-workshop-highlights-need-higher-capacity-broadband-rural-libraries/

-- 
*Diedre Conkling*




*Lincoln County Library District P.O. Box 2027Newport, OR 97365Phone & Fax:
541-265-3066 <541-265-3066> Work email**:
**diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org*<diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org>
* Home email: **diedre08 at gmail.com* <diedre08 at gmail.com>

 "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change
your attitude."--Maya Angelou
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