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Librarians Criticize NTIA Rules

By Gary Kim, Contributing Editor

Lots of people are going to be unhappy with the results of broadband stimulus, because it won't really add as many new connections as some might have hoped, but mostly because some got funds and others did not, and there will be more losers than winners. Criticism already is building, and no funds have been awarded. Add librarians to the list.

 

The American Library Association has complained that the broadband stimulus rules make it harder for libraries to take advantage of the program.

 

In a letter sent July 23 to Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Strickling, Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the ALA Washington Office, says the first-round Notice of Funds Availability discourages libraries from applying for funding.

 

While the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) gave libraries priority for funds as anchor institutions, says ALA, the NOFA requires anchor institutions to serve as least one un-served or underserved area.

 

Beyond that, the NOFA’s current scoring system does not give specific scoring “points” for applications that provide high-capacity broadband service to libraries, which means there’s no incentive for service providers to build broadband networks to libraries or other community anchor institutions, she says.

 

One can reasonably argue that bandwidth for libraries to support public users is a good way to spend money. Indeed, that is part of the plan. But the idea also is to target those scarce funds to places where some reasonable argument can be made about un-served or underserved populations. But that's a good reason to support libraries that meet those criteria.

 

Likewise, the argument that there are not specific rules for high-capacity services beyond the minimum "768 kbps downstream" definition of broadband is curious.

 

Most observers likely believe higher scores will be gotten, all things being equal, for proposals that deliver more bandwidth right now, and likely higher scores for projects that have an identifiable and feasible path to bandwidth upgrades. There is no contradiction between a low standard that is platform neutral and the obvious advantage of projects offering higher speeds.

 

This is a political process and there will be political objections from any number of quarters. The money hasn't even started flowing and there already are objections. What else would you expect from a highly-political program?

 

 

Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Gary’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jessica Kostek