There are fundamental changes coming to the E-Rate program that could benefit your library! In short, 2 billion dollars over 2 years are slated to increase wi-fi capacity in schools and libraries, particularly in rural and high-poverty areas.

 

Join us at the Library of Michigan for Advanced E-Rate training in October to learn the details and stay tuned to Michlib-l and LM4X, the Library of Michigan’s quarterly newsletter. Registration information will be available soon and advertised both on Michlib-l and at LM’s E-Rate page: http://michigan.gov/erateforlibraries.

 

To read more, please see these links from the FCC and ALA:

 

 FCC Chairman Wheeler proposes landmark E-Rate Modernization to bring high speed wi-fi to every student and library PDF icon June, 2014: Chairman Wheeler circulated an E-Rate Modernization proposal to his fellow Commissioners to revitalize the E-Rate program for the world of personalized learning. During the past 18 years, E-Rate has helped transform schools' and libraries' access to modern communications networks. But educational connectivity has changed: whereas once it was revolutionary to connect a computer lab down the hall to the Internet, harnessing the full value of digital learning today means enabling all students to go online from their desk or from any library workspace.

• Official FCC Blog: Access to the Underserved: Keeping Up with the Times by: Tom Wheeler, Chairman

• ALA encouraged by FCC Chairman's commitment to a multi-stage E-rate reform District Dispatch: The Official ALA Washington Office Blog: The American Library Association (ALA) recognizes the difficult task in front of the Commission to move the E-rate program from basic connections to high-capacity broadband and is supportive of its effort to do so. ALA and libraries also have fully engaged in this challenge with our school colleagues and hundreds of other stakeholders to answer an urgent call to meet 21st century learning demands. And there is broad consensus that we cannot meet these demands with funding that has hardly budged in 18 years. We must establish a sustainable foundation for the future.

 

 

Sonya Schryer Norris

Library Consultant and Plinkit Coordinator

Library of Michigan
517-373-4457
http://www.michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan
http://www.mel.org
http://www.michlibrary.org

 

Invest in a child’s future today. Support the MDE Culture of Reading. www.michigan.gov/cultureofreading

 

Culture of Reading-A (2)