Groups join peers from across the library, education, and public sectors calling for the FCC to reject proposals to dismantle the effective and essential E-Rate program

Contact:
Evan Ottenfeld - Director of Strategic Communications
eottenfeld@urbanlibraries.org

This week, the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) and the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) filed joint comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)defending the successful E-Rate program that, for nearly 30 years, has made affordable broadband access possible for all types of US public libraries and schools.

Despite playing a key role in narrowing the digital divide nationwide, the need for E-Rate remains strong. That’s why libraries everywhere – large and small, urban and rural – were alarmed at the news that the FCC was considering drastically narrowing or even eliminating the essential program.

"Diminishing or eliminating the E-Rate program would hurt all public libraries, no matter their size or location," said Brooks Rainwater, President & CEO of the Urban Libraries Council. "As communities everywhere grapple with rapidly advancing technological innovations like AI, we should be supporting libraries as centers of upskilling, learning, and adaptation, not worsening the digital divide."

"In many rural and small communities, the public library is the only place to get free, reliable internet access, and E-Rate helps make that possible," said Kate Laughlin, Executive Director of the Association for Rural & Small Libraries. "If that funding is cut, it will disrupt many libraries’ ability to offer the connectivity their communities need to apply for jobs, access government services, and keep reading and learning. That would widen the very divide E-Rate was created to close."

ULC and ARSL are proud to stand with so many of our partners in library, education, and beyond to ask the FCC to reject any proposals that would limit, phase out or sunset support based on generalized measures of broadband availability rather than reliability, affordability and community need.

The joint comments include a wealth of examples of E-Rate’s efficacy from ULC and ARSL members:

• In Fulton County, Georgia, where users log 36,000 hours a month of PC usage, the elimination of E-Rate funding would have significant budget implications of approximately $200,000. Without this funding, the library would be limited to lower broadband speeds serving other county departments, who do not provide public access
• For the Stonington Free Library in Connecticut, E-Rate funding makes it possible for their small library to provide 21st century technology that would otherwise be out of reach for a stand-alone library without an IT department or dedicated technology budget
• The Live Oak Public Library, which has 14 branches in both urban and rural areas where Broadband Quality Scores remain inadequate: As high-speed internet is increasingly seen as a “super determinant of health” the public library’s ability to provide high-speed broadband internet to its patrons remains an important service to this community.
• For the Nashville Public Library, the library continues to see great community need for access to broadband for help paying bills, filing taxes, applying for jobs, completing schoolwork, accessing government services, or connecting to essential resources, and the E-Rate program helps the institution to “fill the very real internet gap within our communities”
• At the Kansas City Public Library in Missouri, the community continues to experience significant digital inclusion challenges, and demand for technological assistance remains high: its AmeriCorps Library Corps program, in which members provide digital skills training and technology troubleshooting support for patrons seeking help with everything from creating email accounts and submitting job applications to accessing healthcare portals and printing or scanning required documents— facilitated greater than 9,000 digital literacy interactions in the last two years

Read the complete comments.

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