ALA Office for Information Technology Policy files broadband stimulus application

Contact: Jenni Terry


Press Officer


ALA Washington Office


202-628-8410


703-380-2764 (cell)

jterry@alawash.org

For Immediate Release


August 18, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) today filed an application to the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), requesting $1,644,785 from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to fund a project to develop a set of resources to help librarians manage and plan broadband capacity.

The ability to plan for and manage broadband services successfully is essential for today’s 21st century libraries, which face rapidly increasing demand for broadband-based services from their communities. By contrast, most librarians are not well prepared to serve as network managers and broadband capacity planners.

“Many librarians have expressed a critical need for tutorials and online tools to help them understand and make decisions about increasing broadband capabilities,” said Alan Inouye, director of OITP, which will manage the project. “We can only hope that NTIA will see fit to fund this project, which would help libraries take advantage of BTOP and other investments directed towards improving the nation’s broadband infrastructure.”

The Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) and individual state librarians, the Center for Library and Information Innovation at the University of Maryland, the Information Institute at Florida State University and state library associations through the ALA Chapter Relations Office would be partners in the project.

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