know it takes all of us to make this effort a success. thank you for having me here. have a great day. [applause] thank you gentlemen. that was a great way to start. i will ask our panel number one to join me here on the podium. first of all i would like to say thank you very much to chairman wheeler and to tom for being with us. we are very honored. we're moving onto the panel discussion portion of our program. i want to remind everybody that this hearing is being live cast, and viewers are in courage to submit questions via twitter. we also have some cards on your chairs if you have questions

that you want to submit. ber who a staff mem will be picking up those questions after each panel. we will also have a chance for members of the audience and our virtual audience to pose questions. ate is what we are looking with our first panel, the vision, what happens when we get it right. examine why partnerships and investments in broadband make a difference. we will have a senior officer at the bill and melinda gates foundation. we are hoping to have the had of el paso public library with us, but you had a family emergency. what we are excited to have clarence anthony, the executive director of the national league of cities. we will start out with chris. come to the microphone.

>> thank you. thank you for holding this hearing. opportunity toe talk about the experience that the bill and melinda gates ha foundation has had, and our vision of how we can drive personal and community development. -- to helping farmers strengthen their crops to proving the educational system in the united started in 1997 with the gates library foundation. over 20% offered public access to the internet. many inside the library community ensure this was a service that libraries needed to offer.

melinda believe accessing technology was absolutely's -- absolutely essential. for a variety of reasons they -- this. area they have multiple staff. if you can reach a public -- ary by 2004 that goal was met. after investing 230 million dollars the u.s. library program in conjunction with partners at the federal state and local alll helped connect 99% of

public libraries to the internet. i still search to the state to find out where that 1% is. by ensuring that all people continue to have the opportunity to lead productive lives. while the original vision of the foundation has been realized, it is time to turn our attention to a new vision, ensuring people have access involving opportunities that technology has to offer and the opportunity divide does not increase. publicndation believes libraries are key components in meeting this new vision. challenges in doing so. according to the 2011 and 2012 public library and funding access study, outlook and wi-fi use increased in the previous

of publicre than 60% libraries. it also found that more than 65% reported they do not have public computers and to meet the demand and 41% reported their internet connection needs are insufficient. arewhile public libraries dealing with decreased or inadequate budgets. states reported cuts and funding for public libraries in 2012 and more than 40% decreased public library support for three years in a row. people are looking to libraries to do just that. however libraries do not have adequate resources to meet these expanding needs. despite these continuing , libraries have continued to move forward in addressing community development ismany areas, whether it economic development, engagement, or civic engagement.

through a variety of services, such as helping people prepare for resumes and jobs, helping equip them as -- showing how to take action through government services are helping to find information that proves their help or the health of their loved ones. libraries have stepped into this role and people needs and expectations have continued to grow. whether it is addressing the needs of immigrant communities, expanding learning opportunities informals in formal or ways, or supporting students through the provision of additional electronic resources. to be in a position to accomplish this vision, public libraries must have the bandwidth to provide such services in an efficient and effective manner. note have heard, this is always the case and it continues to be a challenge. substantial and ongoing investments from local, state, and federal programs to

address robust conductivity to any library. before libraries can fully explore these new services, they have to know their conductivity infrastructure is sufficient to handle chairman tatian and exploration without negatively impacting the access people depend on on a daily basis. all tone services you've include more video or interactive media, public libraries have struggled to provide the quality of service provided by the community when it comes to conductivity. often faced this demand with conductivity infrastructure. it is not easily scale and offers little to no will to service guarantees. libraries are often operating with one arm tied behind their back when it comes to connectivity. broadband conductivity is the underlying bedrock for building a full suite of services for community and personal development with a robust and reliable rod band connection.

libraries and communities can move into more areas of exploration and innovation. beyond beingve passive consumers of content to creating their own content, which is where great personal and economic opportunity lives. through continued investments in meeting this vision, we hope to see more partners realize the power of the public library to assist personal and community development. we have seen and learned firsthand from investments in public libraries that there are theorganizations at community level. thinking for the opportunity to share these comments. >> we are ready for clarence. we are so excited he could spend his time with us and managed to climb over these chairs. >> thank you.

everyone in this room today has a story or a reason why you are here and you are committed to libraries and the impact on communities. when i was a migrant kid in florida, our family traveled all over florida working in the fields. we were placed in florida in the bell glades. we grew up in a community that did not have a library, did not have a stationary library. nine-year-old kid, i had choices to make. when that mobile library drove up to the park i could either stay on the playground or i could go into that mobile library for the two hours that it was there. most often the playground one. eventually you that

i found my way into that library. later i ran for public office in the community in which i grew up. and i had to deal with a number of issues, crime, drugs, housing. back knew that when i came that one of the things i was going to advocate and fight for was to get a standing library in our community. so i spoke to the legislators, the county commission for five years straight using the same speech. the chair of the state legislative committee pulled out the exact speech and she read my speech and said would you guys please give this may a library? [laughter] well we got it.

that i was after very blessed and honored at a very tender age of 98 that they very blessed and honored. they named that library. it made a difference in my life. -- i would not be here if it weren't for that institution, that building, even that mobile library for me to read about the places i could travel, the things i could do as a migrant kid. changed but libraries are still important. they are still significant. has notfact that changed is the fact that the equalizer in america is education. equalizer is education. and an ability to connect to the

inernet and have computers homes as well as in our libraries. citiesional league of understands that fact and our political leaders nationally have made a commitment to education to advocate for andslation that will extend expand the eu rate program ,unding, streamline the program and make sure that every american will have the ability to live that american dream and have access to internet, as well as computers. we have also partnered with the urban libraries council to assist in making sure that any developed inare the eu rate program really -- in the e-rate program 00 --

the $2 billion that we committed, it is not enough in 2014 to be able to deal with the issue that we have to deal with to deliver digital connectivity to americans. are mosty those that often left behind. the chairman quoted andrew carnegie and i will as well. outranks anything a community can do to benefit the people. digital literacy is no longer a choice in american cities. to high-speed internet is --ential for americans gaining access to health coverage.

it is important that if we are going to bridge the real economic and educational opportunities in america, people have to have access to the internet and computers. note also important to that in the minority communities, that is where it is hurting most. for city leaders, we recognize that the minority community and the access to education is important, the access to internet is important. we are failing. i don't make speeches just to make briefings and comments. i am calling to ask that question. i'm not going to criticize washington right now. i can tell you mayors, city

councils in town, and villages all over america, we are making things happen. we want to make sure that things happen. i want to say that a call to action is needed around this issue. anil c is committed to working with the ul's the, congress, the white house, i lms. we are committed to working with everybody to make sure we address this issue. talk is easy but action is more portent. we know many families only see iphones and ipads and computers in libraries such as this. this is the place people, and they traveled around the world because they can read about places.

to get thethe time eu rate modernization process right. let's be creative and bold in our thinking to making sure our libraries have the technology infrastructure that they need to support a strong local community that results in strong national economy. the my kids would be embarrassed as i say this. says, i&b singer started from the bottom, now i am here. and it is because of libraries. thank you. [applause] >> that was terrific. we have a couple of questions -- if we have anything some quick thoughts for all of you. iwhat do you think community

toders and libraries can do promote digital literacy in a shared vision of broadband connectivity. i know all of our mayors are at place where anthony is. what can your city leaders or library leaders do? >> one of the things library leaders can do is make sure the city leaders get inside the library. often times it has been a while some some of the leaders have been inside the library and see the changes that have happened. and also understand the demand. it hard to understand what role that plays in your daily life until it is taken away. for people who don't have that at home, understanding what that for them -- letting our

leaders see it and articulating what it is the library is doing to meet those digital literacy needs is very important. >> i agree with chris. you really do have a lot of issues you deal with. i would encourage, as you are doing, to become stronger advocates. you have to fight for that space to make sure that public leaders know that we recognize it is important. if you don't have an educated , libraries are an essential part of all of that connectivity. you have to tell your story of why it is important or it gets lost. including pipes, water, and sewer. things,n't see those sometimes the library is visible

in communities. we have to make it more visible. >> as i always say, i think libraries -- sadly we are never in the front of anyone's mind. when you bring this up as a service or option or consideration, oh yeah, why don't we think of a library? did you have a question for our panels? >> i have a question for both. to start with cities, as a library and in a thriving growing city of baltimore and a former resident of chicago, why should cities really care about broadband? why is it important for city use in particular to provide the public access. and as one of the first recipients of the gates foundation grants, your , why isng commitment

that still important to the gates foundation? >> i talked a little bit about it earlier. the reason it is important is because right now it is still very competitive. cities are competing against each other to recruit companies, to recruit younger folks into the community. if they don't have that infrastructure they are not americanbe the great cities then they like to be. the reason toting bring broadband and internet and all kinds of access. they show that as a valuable resource to recruit companies. part whereshow the the population was left behind.

in -- are cities are identifying that is an important part of our community, it is about jobs. it is about improving the lives of people who live in those communities. right now i don't think that we as americans have reached into the depths of where we need to to bring everyone up and have that access. 100%eam is to have a internet wide broadband city. everybody would have access to it, whether you are sitting in a park or not. i have challenged the broadband citynity to find a pilot that we can actually make a city. >> a quick question for you. here you go. get mored it take to

funders to support libraries and digital little -- and digital literacy? >> you don't have to convince us. a we are continuing to make that. in 1990 seven i actually installed computers here in 1998. the demand is still the same now as it was then. the opportunities have changed as libraries continue to meet that. i think to convince more funds, it goes back to that point. if you want to understand economic development, whether it is at a city level or private foundation that is going to fund are, whatever their aims libraries are already doing that work. that is the amazing thing. just telling our story and telling it very effectively in

and in a compelling manner people talk about -- compelling manner. people talk about their personal relationship. >> that was a terrific answer. are doing some any different things all over the country. need to package those services to meet the priorities of some funders. it is a great partnership that has.a less -- that imls we funded 24 all over the country. teens are our target audiences. we give young people skills to get jobs once they go beyond high school. things wet all of the do and package it to really meet the needs of the funder. a round of applause for panel one.

panel two i will ask to join us. thank you, gentlemen. ok, panel two is on the way up. viewers are asking to submit questions to twitter. panel with data lehrer clark, mary and jorgensen, and john -- this will expand what we know broadband in libraries. what are the metrics we need to assure success? the first speaker is with the american library association. oh itp. i have to say there's a lot of alphabet soup today.

we can have a little dictionary we attached to the live cast of this. research director of the harvard project at the american indian economic development. finally john, who was well known -- ur library community would you talk a little bit and then we will have a chance to ask some questions. >> thank you, susan. to all of the board members and together andng discussing the future of libraries in our community. it is an honor to share the stage with chairman wheeler and so other distinguished speakers. we are the largest library association in the world, serving 50,000 members.

policiesrks to ensure at the means of uphold the public's right to free and open society. i would like to wish you all a happy library week. i'll draw more than 20 years of research. the alae office for research and statistics. to thank all these researchers for their many contributions. first a snapshot of public libraries. 16,400re more than library buildings, more than the number of mcdonald's in the united states, which is always a good way to think about the numbers and what they can mean. there are more than 1.5 billion visits annually. many of these include computer

and internet use both wired and wireless. we have seen ongoing improvement in library internet speeds over the past decade. reportedof libraries speech greater than 1.5 megabits per second. the by 2012 we nearly flipped this -- nearly flipped the statistic. fewer than 10% of libraries promoted speeds faster. still roughly 10% of our rural and small libraries are still at 1.5 megabits per second. half of our libraries have the bandwidth that we enjoy at home. at the same time they have an average of 10 computers in our rural libraries.

we have seen an exploding number of devices. my laptop, myve smart phone, my ipad. we see this in our libraries as well. ranging from e-books to instructional videos. and then videoconferencing. people are connecting with legal advice and job interviews and connecting with the overseas military families. as chris mentioned, a significant majority of actually 66% of our libraries told us they need more bandwidth to meet their library needs today. this is data that will be released later on this year. the majority of libraries need bandwidth this year or next.

this is really important. not standing still. many libraries are falling behind. in one you libraries have posted 301 million -- 301 million not including i access. talk a littleill bit more about public use. in one year roughly 30 million people use the libraries computer for employment services. use library technology to achieve educational goals.

26 million people use library and connections to access government information, services, and officials. underlying many of these uses increases the need for people to increase their digital literacy skills. many libraries provide informal to formal assistance, from everything from setting up an e-mail just to uploading job applications to using new e-book readers and cap licks. tablets. we have a lot of data to understand the library technology landscape. we also have gaps. we still don't know the number of people using library wi-fi. we are starting that through the digital inclusion day. we also lack national information on the remote use of library resources. online ande spent types of library resources. perhaps most glaringly, have a

wealth of data that remains largely locked away. we really need it to be available. the alae entities to call -- ala continues to call for data transparency. in indiana library and put it this way. at one time we would have said t-1 line was just the world. it changes too fast. we went from one t one to two t-1, 23 t-1's. unfortunately libraries haven't caught up. abundant bandwidth can be a mighty library service that enables robust, simultaneous use of recording studios and 3-d

modeling camps. new community partnerships and co-working spaces can help --ess to electronic grow electronic records and global connections. more gigabitsng libraries to our communities. thank you, very much. -- thank you very much. [applause] >> she is a lot taller than i am. distinguish members of the panel and chairman wheeler, thank you for convening this panel and for your opening remarks. my name is miriam jorgensen. the harvard project, i worked to

understand the conditions that lead better economic and well-being outcomes for american indians and alaskan natives living in their homeland. these are critical questions. reservation-based indian americans remain some of the chorused people of the united states. we are reminded that even in living onican indians reservations remained less than half of the u.s. average. capitae below the per incomes of hispanics, african-americans, and asian-americans americans by a very wide margin. over 560 federally recognized american indian and classic nations in the united states. war than 200 are in alaska. finding ways to make progress against these economic sort falls is vital for the many people living in this community

he would like to return to these communities. even for the non-native united states citizens who live near american indian or alaskan native lands, it is with this work with that i, to the nonprofit native led organization founded in 2010 thatsupport from imls provides culturally relevant training and services to libraries and museums. my work has largely involved survey and statistical data analysis. most recently i have partnered with staff and an expert in tribal digital media to conduct a study we call digital inclusion. the findings of the studies will be released in several weeks. sixuld like to share elementary findings as they are

important to the discussion today and they ultimately speak to the possibility of change life outcomes for citizens of american indians and alaska organizations. tribal libraries are less able to offer internet access than our non-native public libraries. only 88% offer internet access as compared to 95 and 90 -- and 99%. second, tribal libraries are key points of internet access for residents. --43% are tribal libraries 43% of tribal libraries offer computer access. many have no internet access at all.

third, a significant fraction of tribal libraries with access to not have very good access. that is critically important. of 100 tribal libraries that reported speed of their internet connection, only one third can offer connection speeds greater than three megabits per second, which is a bare minimum for operating many went tased application -- many web-based applications. e-rate program could make a difference but it is vastly underutilized. , 15% of tribal libraries received e-rate discounts. by comparison data released yesterday by i am ls suggests that since 2000, and the percent of nontribal public libraries have benefited. only 17% of tribal libraries applied for eu rate. this leads to my fifth point, confusion over availability and

general lack of awareness. it would a percent report they are unsure if their library was eligible for any e-rate. another 50% said they have never even heard of the program. these findings are consistent with the fact that information -- circling back to the point of the data outset, internet access and tribal libraries support community prosperity and well-being. provide training that helps patrons make use of the possibilities technology offers. half of tribal libraries report training in internet and computer use. haverovide training and access to government information, such as social security, medicare, and income tax data. 35% offer access to and housinged

information. a tribal librarian from the southwest summarizes the ideas of my testimony well. he said our trouble community uses the donated records to access tribal employment applications, social service resources, and college online homework. the computer allows them to access information that would improve their lives, knowledge not readily available to them because they do not have the technology at home. most connected the internet via cell phone and hang up at libraries -- our computers are busy all day from open to close. it is beautiful to see our tribal people learn in that way. it is sad we do not have more than six computers and they do not have them at home. out to chris.t he also added if you see anyone from the gates foundation, please let them know. in conclusion, a note that tribal libraries our culture bearers for their nation,

collecting and making available he materials about language, history, and material culture. tribalsame time, libraries are often the only place in native communities are tribal members can access social services, jobs, banking and travel information, and stay in touch with distant friends and family. librariesribal provide makes people's lives better every day. access tribal levers provide makes people's lives better every day. i am hopeful that these forthcoming data point to a pathway for significantly .mproved broadband access thank you for your information to testify and i welcome any questions you might have. >> we will have some questions for you later.

john. >> thank you, very much. let me thank you for inviting me to participate in today's hearing. it is wonderful to see so many familiar faces oath on the dais and in the audience. saying libraries alfill two important roles in society where more and more goods as is depend on the enter net. thatt to make the case investments and additional bandwidth and libraries are critically important into helping all americans have a chance to dan -- chance to translate digital abundance. i am going to do it with a bunch of data points. a critical role in providing a place where people can improve their level of digital skills. the need to improve digital skills is important and i think

it is often overlooked. our culture tends to assume that once elites get the latest technology, that everyone follows and immediately gets it. there is evidence that there is a wide variation in the level of digital skills in the general population. recent research that i will be releasing in a few weeks finds that on a 2013 survey there are significant variations in the digital skills among people who have all the digital tools we have taken for granted today. 80% of americans have advanced internet access. they either have broadband at home or they have a smartphone p -- smartphone. 18% has low levels of digital skills three low

levels of digital skills tracks closely with low line connectivity, particularly inconsequential areas, such as looking for work or going to a government website. among those with low digital skills, 10% using internet during their most recent job search. internet in their most recent job search, taking another example among those with low digital skills. 26% had taken a class online. in online useces are important because for the most part it is the expectation that everyone is connected at home with broadband. recent research i have done on comcast internet essentials program which serves low income family with school-aged children

chose this. , these new set of internet users recently signed onto comcast internet via essentials. 83% of those respondents said their children's school expected they had internet access at home. said their financial institutions -- 53% said their health insurance companies expected they have broadband at home. there are two things going on. more and more institutions expect people have conductivity online and at home pretty many americans have insufficient levels of digital skills. look atns we need to digital equity differently pre-is -- differently. people on the other side of the digital divide, many people,

about 1/5 of adults with advanced online access, have a low level of digital skills. this means they lacked digital readiness, which i thinks is a term that captures the scope of the challenge. we ensure that all segments of society are ready for information and communication technology. this leads to my second point for libraries, namely they are and the forces we bring forward for the entire population three libraries are both access points for those without broadband at home and information resources for people with service. the pewaccording to research center that 30% of americans do not have broadband at home. that translates into 34 million households or 90 million people. half of those people are internet users.

they just do not have high-speed service at home. creates the need for third places with online access. libraries fill that third-place. they do more as they help people negotiate complex and quickly changing environments. here are some data points to help eliminate this. in 2012 saidans they have accessed the internet at a library for free. figure, 35%,ame that i found in a survey conducted in 2009 for the national broadband plant. 44% of american adults have used a public library website. 30% within the last year.

say free access to computers and the internet is a very important service for libraries to provide. if americans expect more from libraries as technology changes in a digital age. according to the pew research center, 63% of americans over the age of 16 and say they are likely to use mobile apps libraries may provide the axis programs and services at the library. they have a tech pending suit to view new technology. 60% would like to have a digital for personal material. temptationt out the that we have lived through most of the internet revolution in the advance of the internet and

things raises and changes the stakes as the internet's usefulness will expand in unforeseen ways. this will challenge many of us, many of us who are highly wired, to keep up with the necessary knowledge to troubleshoot gadgets and understand new applications. that means is a society we need to provide additional educational resources to learn what these new services are all about. implications three i want to leave you with. digital readiness is the next great social policy challenge for those interested in equity and the internet. beraries and librarians will on the frontlines in helping americans negotiate a world where digital applications were -- applications are worth more and more. libraries will have more demands placed on them, which makes the case to have additional bandwidth very compelling. thank you very much. [applause]

>> we have some questions for our panel. so excited to hear the term digital readiness. we have been struggling with that term for so long. we use the term to gentle literacy. that is just the term of the day. carla, did you have a question? >> i am back in it again. >> then we will take you off the stage. are some of the challenges libraries face in terms of collecting better data and providing the things you need to make a case? >> i think there are a few challenges. a lot of our libraries -- i think everybody feels that string. the data collection piece can be

tricky. digital statistic is hard. where do you collect the data, how do you collect the data? there was a third thing that i am blanking on that came into my head. survey fatigue is always an issue. >> start with methodology and go to intentional research questions framed to assess outcomes from library access. that is not something librarians are well-suited to do. i think it re-creates the need for funding and university researchers to get in there and really be on the ground in assessing outcomes. worked on theing broadband plan, you get questions from policymakers. of i think we have to be very

intentional. >> our community comes in and out of the libraries. a strong commitment to privacy. getting to those outcomes can be more challenging, as opposed to having a steady population in the school building. that is another challenge of being able to capture the impact of library service. know our board member is going to oppose a question -- going to pose a question. dr. charles has committed his entire life to digital access. we know he is a great champion. we are so happy he can be with us today. he has been a leader for years in this area. charles, question? >> thank you.

i have a script here. i was really interested in your point. there is very little information about e-rate. i am wondering what your thoughts are on funding for digital access, especially given to supports efforts native american library institutions, starting with the many resolutions of the white house conference that were adopted and incorporated, let newe the most recent america, new media technology. a lot of research has gone on.

>> i really appreciate that question. there are some simple things that can be done. i think there have some been -- have been some policy changes that have left people out or made it more difficult for tribes to access funding and services. a shift from the library construction services act to the technology services act created some barriers. those are some simple shifts that can be removed. we can provide further information. my colleague is the executive director of the association of --vel archives bcm and archives museum and talks about what some simple policy changes are. one instance is around the fact that there are requirements at

library associations and barriers to prevent state library associations to interfere with tribes. change. a simple policy igetting information out there and making the applications easier to do and providing support for the application is relatively simple policy change that can be done. something that would be potentially more costly but would have long-term payoff is within the overall structure of oragement library agencies within another setting, there needs to be more intentional focus. they are going to be able to interface at that sort of defense and tribal libraries. areas thatr policy this specific focus,

interjecting that were tribal into the policy streamer has made a tremendous amount of difference. we have a decade of research to back that up. question.a as people have more and more ways to go online, where you think libraries, particularly resources how people find information, what is our niche? do withnk a lot has to giving people resources to bolster through their digital readiness but trust and curating content so that people can trust that the information they are getting is safe. a lot of these new applications require sharing a lot of personal data. if you look at barriers to broadband adoption, the worries about the possible hazards of online access are huge, not only to adoption but to sustain to use of the library.

just a quick follow-up. is there a correlation between those who, in your research, have low levels of digital skill and the types of devices they use? >> people have lower levels of access accepts. -- access assets. of low levelpeople digital skills have two big on ramps that are key today. if you do control for all sorts of factors, age, income, amount of online assets, the digital readiness cap israel. >> thank you very much. we will bring up our third panel.

>> our third panel is really all about moving forward. this panel will discuss solutions for a robust conductivity and library. some great ideas about that. boston,hear from gary eric frederick, and linda lloyd. gary is executive structure of the public library system and has added -- has had a long career in libraries. eric frederick is the executive director of connect michigan. linda, ourous hasstay library and -- imls

a very close relationship with all of our state libraries. if we have one of the premier state librarians with us today. she is also the chair of the al a task force. of we are glad to have all of you here today. would you start out? box thank you. -- >> thank you. asking me to do this in five minutes is like putting me in .ront of a buffet i'm going to try to stick to four key point in my remarks. an overview of some of the issues we face in nebraska and omaha. i have been in omaha for four we are about half a million people. -- four years. we are at about half a million

people. nearly half of our population lives in omaha and douglas county. we have lower than average unemployment in that part of the country. our economy has been much more stable over the last few years. that really breaks down as you start to look at specific groups and specific audiences in our community. clarence mentioned earlier about minority populations and how they are affected much more andificantly by the economy employment issues. that is extremely true in omaha. a we are a largely rural state. rest of the state is primarily smaller libraries. many of you are -- many of whom a just got it and it access. we play a very strong role in education and learning with our omaha public libraries.

that has been even more significant over the last two years as we have been working on --imls grant to design designed to reinvent our library system as a community engagement tool to help build our city and grow the economy. we are working with our business community, which has transformed how we see technology and the need for technology through our library system. we are the only access point for internet in omaha that is free. our computers are heavily used. morer wi-fi is even heavily used and that grows exponentially each year. we have five fortune 500 companies there. workforce development is one of the most critical things that has emerged through our grant research in our community. fits ofcreated it

circumstances, an amiable position to begin. through this community engagement work, what we have found is a community that desperately wants us to be engaged with them. and they want us to be they want us to be a leader when it comes to technology education and skills development. many of our larger corporations are finding that have to look outside the city to bring in skilled workers who have the digital skills that are necessary for our part of the country. in particular, individuals who can write code, and don't ask me, i don't know what coding is, but i know that it's necessary. our companies are having to bring in individuals who have that skill set. it is a skill set that is not terribly difficult to learn. it doesn't require formal education. it's something that if individuals are given the access and the ability to learn, there

is a job waiting for them on the other side. so we been asked to look at what we can do with building those skills. just this past friday am a some very sad news, a small company, inech startup that grew omaha, and some of you may be familiar with the, the company is mind mixer. online town halls for cities who are looking for information, community engagement-based research from individuals in their communities. unfortunately they announced they are leaving omaha and moving to kansas city and doing so quite simply because they cannot find enough workers to meet the demand in omaha. carla asked earlier, how do we get the attention of elected officials for the need for libraries and digital instruction? that's how we get their attention. we have to say this cannot happen again. we cannot lose another company for this reason. we have already started on a lot of this work and it continues.

employed linda.com, which provides instruction on computers in any one of our 12 libraries on all kind of topics. it is self-paced and includes software skills, design skills as well as management and leadership classes. people can come to the library, there are video instructor led programs that help them build a skill set that heretofore may not have been accessible to them. classes in the library, which gives us the opportunity not only to work with partner agencies to help people prepare for the ged exam itself, but also to help them get comfortable using computers, since the ged test now is done on a computer. we don't want them to be sitting there for the first time using a computer and having two-faced -- having to face such a difficult test.

act was onele care of our recent technology bubbles in the library system. for the last two months over 1000 people came to our libraries to find out more about their insurance options and to sign up for insurance. this was a wonderful example of how people come to libraries not just for it computer or internet access. they came to us for support. someone mentioned earlier about , peoplee by side help who even have internet access needed help. we were fortunate to have trained volunteer navigators there to help people navigate the system, to get online and use the programs that were available. for the future, what is the future? i don't know. none of us know what the future is for technology. we know it will be different. what we are doing in omaha is creating a technology incubator library. this is a space that will give

us the opportunity to experiment, to try new things, to see what works, to see what our community needs, and to see what doesn't work. we will be able to do that in a space that is independent from our other libraries but very much connected and part of our libraries. we're doing this with the wonderful support of philanthropists in the city and through the public-private arner ships that make these things possible. we talked about carnegie and that public -- private partnership and it's something we rely on. the first thing they want to government,t is the the city, the state, the federal government doing to help libraries before they will step up with their private support. so it helps leverage those private dollars to make these things possible. in our incubator we will have a space that offers afterschool

programs that teach you creative skills programs that help them learn to design and create and edit content, job skills for people applying for jobs and doing more. this spaceto launch next year, we are excited to take all of the research that has been done by our partners around the country, using the edge initiative that has come , andyou will see -- ulc create a space to put those in practice and see how they fit in the omaha community. thank you so much for this opportunity to talk, and i will turn it over to eric. [applause] >> it's a very narrow platform up here. thank you for the honor of speaking today on the importance

of broadband for libraries and the modernization of one of its major funding vehicles. i agree with gary that asking me to do this in five minutes is a very difficult task. we have talked today a lot about stories -- ielling want to give you some background before i start into the stories. subsidiarynprofit argan with the michigan public service commission and our task is to facilitate the expansion of broadband technology throughout the great lakes states. we are michigan's expression of the state broadband initiative, administered and funded by the national tele-communications administration. over the last four years, in concert with a lot of the other work that programs are doing throughout the country,

including broadband mapping and research, we have been implementing the connected community engagement program. this is a robust and grassroots effort to bring together local stakeholders around the idea of broadband technology at a very small scale, assessed their local broadband landscape, identify gaps in the assessment and help develop an actionable technology plan for filling in those gaps. over the last two years we have engaged with 27 communities across michigan, double the amount we were required by the federal grant, and have engaged 1300 stakeholders in the process. team members on these local teams include chambers of commerce, economic development corporations, schools, broadband providers him and of course, the libraries. we have seen firsthand through the connect program critical role that libraries play in communities throughout the country. library service and access point to the limited resources of the

internet and our catalyst for adoption. services offered by libraries are some of the key points that we look at when doing our local broadband assessment through the connected program, including public computer center hours and literacy classes. we have countless stories to share regarding best practices and success is coming out of our connected program. a i were to shake my sin of best practice it -- if i were to sieve.my in the eastern upper peninsula, they became hopers do this to access the internet. it provided students grades seven through 12 with a laptop. the vast majority of students did not have an at-home broadband connection, so libraries advocated for expanded parking lots, they increase their bandwidth and extended hours to meet the needs of the student.

communities with active broadband and technology planning teams, many michigan schools are working in tandem with libraries to ensure this adequate bandwidth and capacity to meet the increased community demand for high-speed connectivity. libraries across michigan contribute significantly to local economic development effort on partnering with local terms of commerce and economic development corporations to host website and social media development training for small businesses. the michigan economy relies heavily on these establishments and those are businesses with 20 employees or fewer. research has found that michigan small businesses are less likely to adopt rock band than larger establishments and small businesses in other states. in response, in the winter of that havening teams been engaged or are program partnered with libraries and chambers of commerce to train 140 small businesses on e-commerce and website

development so they may leverage technology to grow in rural michigan. michigan's harbor communities are greatly dependent on the summer months for local tourism. on workingurist vacations that require ongoing communication with employers via e-mail and cloud computing find michigan's libraries and their small coastal towns to be ideal secondary offices away from home. modern technology and these libraries allows visitors to experience michigan and contribute to the local economy for longer times because they have sufficient bandwidth to telecommute. libraries in harbor springs, frankfurt, traverse city, all up and down the west coast of michigan are packed with these types of folks in the summertime , being able to bring their families to northern michigan to enjoy the environment. on theave experienced ground in michigan, libraries that are engaged in the broader community technology planning program on developing creative and innovative solutions and

methods to help solve community connectivity and adoption issues. it is an unprecedented opportunity to prioritize and incentivize applications from libraries that are part of the broader community technology plan. libraries in ror michigan are seen as gems in their community. susan mentioned about bringing libraries to the forefront of people's minds him and these broader community technology planning teams are absolutely doing that. bringing the libraries that to the forefront of the minds of local government officials in schools and economic development corporations for the role they play in connecting everyone in the community. a few examples of shoes -- efficiencies produced from collaborative community technology programs. libraries play critical role in broadband access and adoption in michigan communities, not just for digital literacy skills of individuals but for those of his mrs. that are making michigan me

to thrive in these tough economic times. thank you again for allowing me to come today and to share some of the stories and successes of michigan's libraries. ain't you. [applause] -- thank you. >> the final speaker is making her way up here. thank you so much, eric. >> good morning, everyone. i am in awe at being here today with so many distinguished people, including some old friends. what a pleasure. i don't know where commissioner hunt is, but hearing him speak in a few minutes is one of the thrills of my being here today. i learned the phrase here a couple of years ago which seems

incredibly appropriate. , butthing has been said not everyone has said it. [laughter] i'm sure you haven't heard it in e accent, so here i go. the american library association has advocated for high-capacity broadband in libraries since the beginning of the program. i'm always so proud to mention that my former senator, olympia snowe, was essential, was critical in getting this program into the american telecommunications legislation of 1996. ala established an official e-rate task force that closely

monitors and responds to fcc proceedings within the washington office, and i'm so pleased to work with these who are sola supportive of the task force's work. there is no question but that has transform the way libraries and schools function to better serve the needs of patrons and students. from my perspective in maine, it has been an incredibly successful program. however, after nearly 20 years, even a successful program should be assessed to make sure that it's focused on meeting today's connectivity needs it would therefore, ala supports the fine-tuning of the programming and creating efficiencies wherever possible. however, i do caution that in the changes being contemplated, we first do no harm.

in march, the fcc released a public notice him and i will share a few details, as i have been asked to. believes his proposals address some of the greatest challenges our libraries have in reaching the kind of broadband speeds they need for today's and tomorrow's services. a l.a. wants to focus on places where high-capacity rob andrews not available to libraries and where i'm if it is available, it is not affordable. study theto also library broadband targets. we believe it should occur with scalable technology instead of continuing in incremental improvements. we envision all libraries at one gig by 2018, if not earlier. aside, in maine, our goal for 2015 is one gig to 99% of main's schools and libraries.

i want to interject here that maine had all at schools and libraries in a two to the in 1997-19 98. we connected them to a 56 k line with a frad --does anybody know what that is anymore? frame relay access device. we thought we were in hog heaven. obviously that has changed as rapidly as changes in some of the other state you have heard about earlier. i just read wonderful report yesterday to learn that arizona, south carolina, and maine maximize use of the earache program and not -- of the e-rate program. inealize they listed it alphabetical order. we do maximize our use of the

and i would love to explain how we do that, but there is no time. 29% of statewide library say that a majority of their libraries lack adequate bandwidth now, and 92% say that most of their libraries will need more bandwidth within three years. he did a quick survey in maine a couple of weeks ago asking what libraries would do with broader bandwidth, and within a few hours i had 51 replies, some from libraries i never hear from, begging for broader bandwidth. we think we do a pretty good job of providing what they need, and obviously i learned. recommends using a portion of the sec's $2 billion down payment to immediately increase library broadband. ala has three main proposals.

the first is called scalable technologies deployment program that would apply to libraries in close proximity to providers who can offer speeds of at least 100 megabits up to our one gigabyte goal. it might be a catalyst for providers to expand into areas where there is little competition. the second proposal would promote school partnerships. his school has a broader connectivity than the library close to it has, why not have the library link off that school's broadband? first mentioned this, i said, isn't that legal now? goodness the responses yes, that is perfectly acceptable to do that now. the third and final project calls for network diagnostics and technical support. the project would maximize the cost efficient use of e-rate

funds and help out smallish libraries. it would rely on support from state libraries who have trained statewiders with a perspective on the status and connectivity needs of their libraries. i would be remiss without recognizing the gates foundation , my first act was going to andin -- training session what a difference it made it to other suggestions to streamline the processes, we fear down the road that overall program funding is going to have to be increased. i will tell you frankly that phasing out support for voice services has been a contentious issue for the task wars and for many libraries -- for the task force and many libraries across the country. some of the issues we have

weighed in on include what to do , or we have discussed what to do in cases of emergency or in areas where alternatives to telephone you not be reliable or affordable. with fourher survey libraries and they were split right down the middle on this, partsr or not losing would damage them. i got one touching note from a library and they said yes, park support would hurt throughoutwe take in the year. however, we know how much other libraries need broadband, so we would vote to spend money on broadband. that just amazed me that the library had the big perspective and was aware of concerns across the state. we do support a gradual phaseout .f voice services i emphasize very gradually, for

the reasons i just mentioned. finally i would like to bring this back to where this matters. you have heard this. libraries touch all aspects of life from education, employment, entrepreneurship, to empowering people in all stages and from all walks of life. when people cannot apply for jobs or access government services because they don't have access from home, public libraries must be there for them. where else are they going to go? police station, townhall? i don't think so. public libraries or it. we have heard so many statistics and goals, but to bring it right down to what gary did, we are talking about the lives of tens of thousands of individual people whose lives are being enriched i broadband in our public libraries. that is the key point i want to leave with you. about not just talking abstractions, we are talking

about people's lives. the final point is, we don't know what the next new thing is going to be. going to comerons in wearing google glasses, bringing their ipads and computers, their iphones? we don't know. but whatever it is, we do know it will involve bandwidth and that library patrons will expected their libraries are ready to provide it in that it works well at the library. we cannot allow in adequate bandwidth to limit the services that are libraries can give their communities. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, linda. i think most of the folks in the p.o.t.s. isw what

-- plain old television service, just to clarify. -- plain old telephone service. we have a couple of questions, we are trying to stay on time, watching our clocks. the first question comes from one of our board members, who i want to add knowledge has been a state library and has been issuesd in these e-rate in both michigan and kansas. kristy, i think you have a question for gary. >> gary, you mentioned that e-rate helps leverage other dollars. anddoes it directly affect support your library and what are some of the current program? how would you suggest it changes to better serve your community? i said, it is key in leveraging other dollars, which helps us magnify what we are capable of doing.

library of my size, the money that comes in for that, without it we would not be able to provide the service. the cuts we would have to make to offset the loss of that funding would be significant. the challenges, many of them withbeen mentioned already the complicated process that is involved. as an example, with the library of my size, with a limited staff withtaff and limited expertise in this area, -- pay aly have to hay consulting firm to apply for e-rate funds are us. we have to spend some of our money to apply to get the funds. that is how challenging the process and time involved are. that is true throughout nebraska. how we could make this an easier process, to get the money where it needs to go and ensure that it is spent smartly.

>> areca, you had some very compelling stories. talk a little bit more about how you think public-private partnerships have really impacted community planning efforts and e-rate modernization. it is a great example to have the public often private work going on, and hasn't made a difference in your view? >> it has. the fund in tough economic times , and communities that have been hit the hardest, that public-private partnerships are just a way of life now. no single entity can stand on their own. when we bring these teams together, natural collaborative models come to the top. libraries talking to schools, chambers, economic developers. in one immunity they join together to

provide increased bandwidth for everyone, signed on rural local governments to that system for increased efficiency and then .xpanded that system it now has a sustainable broadband connectivity. those public private life,rships are a way of forced a little bit by the economic downturn, but are definitely shown dividends in a lot of the communities we work with. >> christy, did you have another question? >> linda, we are both from states that have a lot of rule libraries that rely on e-rate to serve the community. at least proposals help those libraries that are the furthest behind? also, any thoughts about rural areas where rehabbing challenges in terms of enticing vendors to make investments at all. we are having

challenges. -- the lack ofem competition is a huge problem. tv, there isable nothing except one telecom provider in one area, and that is a very difficult and. the first part of your question was -- >> how are those proposals going to help the libraries that are furthest behind? definitely,hey are deliberately focused on those libraries. there would be a way to determine which libraries desperately need to be in a pilot project to get that connectivity. >> we want to try to keep our efforts here on time. we have a couple of other questions, some of them we have got an answer, but there was one

question, are there any studies of actual experiences of low speed versus high-speed libraries him in terms of service quality and variety? this is a really good question. i hope the chairman in his closing remarks can address that. as you said, linda, and it's all been said, but not everybody has said it. we all know for the most part it is really bad out there and we have to get this connectivity better. the real challenge is, do we really understand, and can imagine what it would be like with better connectivity? it, we'ref we had still not there because the next day, something new will come along. it was amazing to me that 50 of your main libraries could write away come up with uses for increased rock band. so we know that is where we want to go. so i would like to thank our panel and ask you to step down. we really appreciate your

efforts. [applause] so if you would join me up here on the podium. reedm being joined by hunt, former chairman of the federal communications commission. as we are today, i won't say grandfather, maybe godfather of .he e-rate he is ceo of the coalition for green capital which promotes development of national and state greenbank. it was chairman of the fcc from 1993-1997 and was on president obama's 2008 presidential transition team. he sits on the board of directors at intel corporation anda wireless firm

financial services firm. he is a vocal opponent of libraries. it is appropriate that we end with his remarks, given a lifelong commitment to improve broadband connectivity as one of the original architects of the e-rate program. we are so pleased to open this up with chairman wheeler and end with chairman hyde. we are very -- chairman hunt. [applause] >> thank you very much to susan for hosting everybody here today and to susan benton who is my friend and client. i record in her as a pro bono lawyer at the fcc. her at the fcc. earth, a personal note.

my sister is the head librarian in rockville, maryland. my nephew is a librarian, my mother was a public school teacher, my sister-in-law the public school teacher, and i once was a public school teacher. in washington, they would be called takers. but we regard ourselves as the family that has had a long commitment to public service. and i'm very proud, if i could be so bold, to say that i'm part of the library community. some would like to express of the realities of the situation, and not everything i say is going to be good news. folks, we need to step up our game. we are in the playoffs. we need to aim higher, we need to pull together, we need to fight more fiercely, and we need to understand that this game is definitely worth the candle.

that everyone understand the political realities that face chairman wheeler and the fcc. before i go into anymore detail, i want to make sure that you understand that i was not in fact the creator of the e-rate. leadership is critical in every walk of life and i want to knowledge the two principal people who were the leaders that created the e-rate. first, al gore. 1992s in the winter of -1993. into his office. he was a senator who had just been elected vice president of the united states, so the office was right over there. i can persuade president-elect bill clinton to make you chairman of the sec, i will do it, if you promise to find a way to have the following occur.

schoolgirl in carthage, tennessee, to be able to go to the library of congress without buying a bus ticket. i want all that information digital, and i want the most in theschoolchild poorest communities in the united states to have access to it. from the beginning, the vision was schools and libraries, all information, we are all in it together. father was said, my the principal author of the interstate highway act. this is going to be the digital equivalent. a lot of that has happened, but that wouldn't have happened but for the fact that about three years later, senator olympia note, a republican, said to me, you are the fcc chairman. how would you like to pay a visit to bangor, maine.

somehow it doesn't sound the same when linda says it. so i flew up there with senator snowe and we went to school. she gave a wonderful talk to the students and then she took me to the library in the school. she said look, there are hardly any books. this was almost 20 years ago. she said in the future, there won't that many books here. it will all be digital. i want to make sure all the digital information in the world is available to every single child that goes through this cool or any other school in the country. so it came down to a critical , andin a divided congress all the democrats wanted al gore's vision to come true. for a whole bunch of reasons that are characteristic of partisanship and not bipartisanship, the republican party didn't want anything al gore advocated to come true, and

olympia snowe up in front of everybody else and said, i'm voting with the democrats. 10-8. that's how it passed into law. when it got to the fcc, there were three republicans -- two republicans and one independent who wanted to vote against it. and notuld have lost been able to pass the rule. snowe stayed up until 3:00 in the morning working the phones, calling the republicans and getting them to vote yes. morning she in the called me and said i got you your votes. i don't understand why mere commissioner at the fcc should not just say yes when a senator asks. [laughter] those are stories about leadership. they are not meant to be stories about partisanship. they are meant to be about leadership. but it's critical that we all understand that this is a

country of private wealth and public poverty. to stand country where for the proposition that there should be public access to anything is to take a stand in a long-running battle of ideas. on can take your stand either side. there are a lot of things to be a private life and the values of private investment and capitalism. there are a lot of things to be said about limited government and small government and government waste. things to beot of set on that side. but if you're talking about wanting libraries to be the number one free public internet access point in the community, then what you are saying is, on this topic, i'm taking another stand. i'm saying that we need communities to have free public access, and that that free public access should not be

inferior to the broadband available in the suburbs in the u.s. today. , in theo susan benton last two weeks the urban libraries council did a survey of 33 major libraries in the u.s., more than 100 different buildings, and that survey demonstrated in these libraries one not one single one has gigabit of second connectivity to the buildings. pull out the handheld device and measure the wi-fi at four clock p.m., and every single one of the major libraries, these are the biggest libraries in the united states -- in every single one, the wi-fi connectivity is inferior to what it is in the suburbs of the united states in homes. so how can anyone think that the hundreds of people in this building now are getting adequate access to the internet? what is the meaning of adequate access?

is being able to download or job application and fill it out. being able to go online and take a course, being able to enroll and spend one hour learning to code. these are not things that al gore and olympia snowe knew would be the demand case years later, but they knew that something like them would be the demand case. 30 million americans every a publicar go to library for free access in order to improve their careers. that's 1/10 of the population. the same people every year. over the course of just three or four years, the majority of adult americans go to a library to try to get a job or to improve the job they have. this is the importance of public access. andall have studied the shown there is popular opinion behind this vision. some of thelk about

statistics, and i want to go right to the core of an issue that has plagued this debate since it started two years ago. schools or libraries, which is more important? i think it's a false choice. l-rate.d talk about an schools need some amount of money. when you add them together, you would know the total need. it doesn't mean a different tax base or that you need to think about them differently because they serve overlapping populations. it's a way to figure out what you really need. nevertheless, i do want to compare the two. , ineed to talk about needs statistically useful terms. libraries constitute about 20% of the number of buildings of schools. on a visits per year basis are about 20% of the business -- visits to schools

every single year. if you talk about potential users, there are four times as many potential users of libraries as there are of schools. number of about the registered users in libraries, there are more than two times as many registered users of libraries as there are children and teachers in schools. if we talk about the actual internet access which john was just talking about, more than two times the number of internet access users in public libraries as in schools. so whichever way you want to measure, you actually have metrics. it asr you look at buildings, 20%, or users in terms of two times in four times, then you have to compare against the following. money, how much is going to schools? lara was talking earlier about the shortfalls in data-gathering. as best as anyone has been neville to guess, and it's not

to the credit of the fcc that they have not made the data transparent, but they are making it transparent because susan and lara have been pushing them on this and they are willing to be pushed. this sec is willing to be pushed. but we still don't even know how e has paid the e-rat out to schools. best guess is about to move three percent. it isn't anything like a relative proportion to the number of users in libraries. 3% is itn say about hasn't produced the desired result. citizens group did the measurement in these libraries in less than 10 days, because modern measurement tools work just like that, when we did this measurement, we discovered what i have already told you. oh well. woeful state-- a of connectivity.

said he is guessing it is about 400 libraries out of the 17,000 buildings, we need to survey about 400 to have a statistically valid survey. it's going to prove that the status quo is really deficient. let's talk about the size of the e-rate. roughly $2.4 billion. it was said at $2.5 billion in 1997. what are the things i regret is that we did not put in a cpi inflator at the time that we set the number. they don't stand up to scrutiny and it was a mistake. let's adjust for inflation. it would now be about 3.5 billion dollars. if we just for the relative size of the economy now as opposed to what it was then, it should be about $3.75 billion. if we look back over the last 10 years and do those adjustments and say what should have been

the spinning over the last 10 years, would come up with the following conclusion. about $10shortfall of billion. that's how much the country owed to itself and didn't pay. this is exactly the same infrastructure story that you see with respect to roads or dams or any other feature in the public landscape. and that's the reason why the in theivity is so woeful library buildings and in the classrooms today, because we weren't spending that money for the last 10 years. if you say we just forgot, that's not the reality of the story. the reality of the story is that libraries and schools, as always, or right in the middle of culture wars in our country. that's the reality of the story. it's all well and good for me to tell you that we somehow managed to pull off the? rate, from the minute it was passed, there has been political opposition here in washington dc. from that very minute.

gore tax.led the there were ads that were run against it. there were attacks on the people who ran the original administrative structure, the person i originally appointed to run that program was personally attacked and vilified and accused of waste, fraud, and abuse, which he didn't commit. finally they drove him from office. there were challenges to the constitutionality of the spending. i could go on and on, but i'm saying to you all, there is not a broad-based consensus in washington dc about what to do. in this room, there might be, but when i say we need to step up our game, it's because it is not fair to take the greatest visionary and leader at the fcc in this century, tom wheeler, and say thanks a lot, here is what we need, you are on your own. we need to be behind him and supporting him him and our time

is short. you have heard today, i'm going to translate what tom said because it's really important to be first of all, the model is the marginal wi-fi user in peak hours. it is not just broadband in the building, but broadband in the building plus high-speed wi-fi in the building. that's what we have to talk to him about in every one of our buildings. if someone is writing the checks, you don't say i don't like what you want to buy. that is the data that we have to give. second, he told you that he's not going to be funding pots. we have to have a transition plan, either fast or little bit less fast, but it has to happen. that is what he told you. it's not just more money. later than june, the fcc intends to insisted that

libraries dig her out how to have a consortium bidding. out how to have a consortium bidding. would have to have longer times for the contracts. we had to reference pricing so that everyone pays the lowest reasonable price. we have to provide i.t. experts for libraries that don't have them. we cannot have it be that the nonexperts are left out or told to fend for themselves, or they pay too much. we have to have limited pilot projects that run right away, starting with the june order at the fcc that actually generates data so that i not later than the end of the year, a more permanent program can be put in place. on this topic are due on monday. we should all remember if we don't hang together, going to hang separately. we need to do a better job, meeting and talking and figuring out what to say together, and

then when you all go to the hill in may and talk to all the members tom a this has to be at the top of the list. all the institutions in the civic landscape, libraries get the smallest amount of money from the federal government. , smaller than schools, smaller than health care or any other institution you can think of in the social landscape. the total money us on your budget that your are empowered to transfer to state libraries -- $155 million. that isn't even noticeable in the department of education budget. and your agency didn't exist until 1997. >> it was buried in the department of education. we wanted out. teachers inl these my family. i'm not saying anything against schools. what arep needs to say

our needs, and we have to stand up and do the math. we have the reply briefs due next monday. the first week in may, under the leadership of john chambers, who knows more about libraries than anyone who was ever employed at fcc, we have a working group where we have to get to conclusions about the .dministrative process reforms we have to do that so he can start riding his order inmate, so the order can come out in june that establishes the new andnistrative processes, that talks about how the fcc is going to be spending its money in the next cycle. picture,general big for many years, the entire community that has benefited has the e-rate understandably, because of the constant culture wars, has said year after year, let's just hold on to what we've got. that's what we've had to do, just because of the constant

treasure. but that's not what this fcc is telling us. it is saying instead of looking dollars every single year, why don't you come in and tell us a whole bunch of money right up front. it will be a capital expenditure , will forey up front once and for all put fiber to all these buildings and provide caching technology, will have one simple model for every single building, and in your maintenance cost years later will be less than the upfront cost. this is the way every single network in the united states is built. it's only in this sector that we haven't yet embraced that model and we are being told by the fcc , bring us the plan and we will pay for it. we have to get the plan out, and it has to be technical. susan demonstrated to me that there was plenty of competence

in a bunch of libraries to deliver the i.t. planning. done.an all be there are a lot of libraries where the i.t. competence doesn't exist and isn't funded by the local and municipal governments, and doesn't need to be. have a trainedto i.t. professional in every facility. 50 or 100 could serve the entire country. everything needs to be transparent. that's why we want to be online. ought to bedeals public for all other library deals. all usage measurements ought to be public. in fact, every library ought to be goading themselves and others on every quarter by reporting to the fcc every single quarter now and forever, how it is going.

which is so incredibly easy. it was an easy back in the old days. those old based on exist now. to do theseeasy measurements. we just have to say the data is going to make us free. to what level are going to upgrade? about surge spending, what level are we going to upgrade to? there is no doubt whatsoever, because all the comments written on april 7 also worth this. the fundamental idea has to be fiber in the building and delivering one gigabit per second. that is not the future, the future is that one gigabit will become 10 and then 100. the way fiber works, once you get the glass in the ground, adding the electronics later to upgrade the bits per wavelength, that is a imperatively lower expenditure. so we have to be focusing first on getting what john and his

group called the capital expenditure in place. second, as to the wireless local area networks, i was up late last night reading the comments, but they make it really clear. there are several basic categories of funding that are necessary. the maintenance, the routers, internal networks which in some cases have to have wired components. it's not that complicated. we should be presenting to the fcc one or two basic models and saying these are the models with variations that all libraries should be utilizing. there are some comments that say libraries really shouldn't do consortium bidding. all those comments were from the people currently supplying the libraries. god bless them, they have actually done a wonderful job, but they are not looking out for the biggest bang for the buck.

you were talking about haggling. we have to be doing some haggling. why should libraries be able to opt out of consortiums? only if they can get a better deal by opting out. nobody should be saying i want the federal government to give me money so i can opt out and pay for the worst deal. we ought to be willing to agree to that and be willing to say to the fcc that we will hang together because we don't want to get bad deal separately. .e need to allocate my priority all the comments they could clear that there has to be some sense of equity in the prioritization that the fcc does. there are variations on what equity consists of, but for sure, it is an adjustment by income and by the number of users. we all have to agree on a sensible allocation formula.

if we were on the titanic, it would be women and children first. this is a post-gender discrimination era that we are in. we need to have a formula that reflects some sense of needs. the fcc isn't going to find 100% on day one. number two, is absolutely going to be necessary that we understand the fcc needs to come out with an order in june, and that will not be the final order. it is also going to be the case that these pilot projects have to be done and data has to come back, and we need to revise and change our thinking. but by the end of the year, we should have fulfilled tumblr stream. he wants to reimagine the e-rate . he told us that he wants us to be collectively the andrew carnegie's of this century, maybe with a little help from bill gates.

but this is an incredible opportunity. we have to take it. i know that we can take it. when i look at that conversation with olympia snowe and i look at the results, the reality of unitedt access in the states from the year that olympia took me to that school in maine am a the reality is this. internet access in the united states was led by access to schools and libraries. in its first 10 years, it was led by access to schools and libraries. the us-led the world in having a generation, on to the internet. we have in fact in that generation highest standards of internet savvy people of any country in the world. it on a narrowband platform. what tumblr came and told you

today is how you're going to reimagine the whole thing on a tomdband platform -- what wheeler came and told you. thank you. [applause] >> i knew he would be a great closer. he always had the good vision and we are lucky to have someone with his knowledge and passion alking about these issues at very important time for all these issues. we are just about to close. we want to thank all the panel members. they were terrific, and our board, for sharing their time and expertise and aspirations with us today. we had thoughtful analysis and dialogue. we hope we have provided a for him is highlighted many of the activities and opinions and proposals going forward. we think there is a widespread

group of challenges and possible solutions we have heard discussed today and we will continue to discuss over the summer. we know we are at a historic libraries and access and next-generation broadband. we checked many of these issues to become more developed in the public sphere as the fcc continues toward modernization of the e-rate program and eventually ask congress to weigh in with their thoughts very soon. i have no doubt that the public record will inform those conversations, and we could not have done it without all of our participants and all of you in the audience. so i want to thank our virtual audience who have joined us through youtube and google. these platforms demonstrate, as right here in this library, the possibilities that improved broadband in our nation can foster. written comments will be accepted and must be received , that's next24

thursday, to be included in the hearing records. please feel free to share your by april 24. us each comment must include the author's name and organizational affiliation, if any of and please send them to comments at i am ls.gov. anchored to the martin luther king staff and the library for the whole morning. , it is other staff fabulous to be here. i just keep looking out there and it looks like their connectivity is pretty good out there. we will have to do some speed testing in d.c., but this is why we are here. we are making a difference in the nation's capital. if we can do it everywhere. thank you very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> on thursday, house republicans will gather to elect a new majority leader, replacing eric cantor, who lost his primary election last week, and possibly other leadership post. current majority whip kevin mccarthy of california will face off against representative laboratory of idaho -- representative labrador of idaho.

congressman steve's police of others arena and seeking to move into leadership. be conducted will by secret ballot with no record of how lawmakers vote. >> earlier today, secretary of state john kerry said protecting oceans is vital for national security and food. the state department hosted the conference with government officials and scientists discussing the protection of the ocean ecosystem. here is a portion. >> i want us to walk away from this conference with more than ideas. i want us to walk away from here with the plan. a plan that puts an end to overfishing through new rules based on the best available science. and may i add that one of the things that senator ted stevens of alaska who teamed up with me on the commerce committee in the