Understand and Improve Library Broadband Challenges

Rural and tribal libraries across the US helped create the Towards Gigabit Libraries toolkit, a free, self-service guide for rural and tribal libraries to understand and improve their broadband and technology resources. The Toward Gigabit Libraries Toolkit and customized Broadband Improvement Plan is designed to help public and tribal librarians learn about their current broadband infrastructure and internal information technology (IT) environment. Using these two resources, librarians are better equipped to improve their broadband services and become stronger advocates for their libraries' broadband infrastructure needs.

Libraries can download the toolkit for free at www.internet2.edu/tgl. It is a printable booklet librarians can fill out and use to understand and improve broadband and IT at their library.

To create and promote the toolkit, the project team traveled to 58 rural public and tribal libraries across 12 states to pilot the use of the toolkit and accompanying Broadband Improvement Plan. Today, three years after it was released, libraries across the country continue to use the toolkit. For example, Montana State Librarian Jennie Stapp implemented the toolkit in 115 of Montana’s 117 libraries (https://www.internet2.edu/blogs/detail/17372).

The project team just received a new Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to expand the toolkit’s reach to more rural and tribal (and some urban) libraries across the nation (https://www.imls.gov/grants/awarded/re-246219-ols-20).