Broadband and Digital Equity for Pennsylvania Public Libraries

Understand your library’s current technology situation and plan for improved broadband internet connectivity to meet community needs:

• Conduct speed test exercises (try Internet Speed Test | Fast.com or Internet Speed Test: Free Tool to Check Local Internet Speeds (broadbandnow.com) to see results of your current speeds. 
  • Ensure that your library has enough bandwidth and a reliable connection.  Connection speed of at least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload are a minimum recommendation, and many libraries will need much more to meet the needs of many users connected simultaneously.  If your library doesn't meet the minimum speed requirement, prepare plans for grants that may soon become available.
• Review contracts or bills from your Internet Service Provider to make sure you are ordering and receiving the high-speed connectivity your library and its patrons need.  If you aren’t utilizing e-rate funding, learn more and consider applying in future years.
• Complete the Toward Gigabit Libraries Toolkit to begin to prepare a broadband technology plan.     
• Revisit library policies and procedures to ensure access, especially to historically marginalized populations.  Are there barriers to access for those most in need?  Does the procedure align with the policy?
• Create a project plan to improve the user experience of patrons on public computers.   
  • Do patron computers have quality sound, video, and input methods. 
  • Do some stations have dual monitors and webcameras?  
  • Could a patron create content at your workstations? 
  • Are computers in the library accessible for people with disabilities or impairments?
  • Are patron computers arranged in spaces that are useful?
    • Is there space for small group work sessions on computers? 
    • Are there independent, private spaces where a person could attend and participate in an online meeting or do focused work without distraction?  
• Think about ways that meeting rooms can be more accessible to host hybrid and online meetings. 
• Ensure staff technology tools (hardware, software, and peripherals) are useful and purpose purchased.
• Analyze your library's website and make a plan to ensure it is fully accessible for people who are using assistive technology or who may need to use a translator to view text in a language other than English.

• Consider what facility improvements you may need to facilitate improved broadband services for all populations.  Be ready with a plan for when funds from the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund are opened for grants in Pennsylvania.  Could your library be apply for funds to improve access to technology for all by adding a computer lab or renovating spaces to improve technology access for all?

Ensure Staff and Community Know about the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)

Print and post flyers about the Affordable Connectivity Program to ensure patrons who qualify are aware of the program.  Find flyers and outreach materials online at the ACP Consumer Outreach Kit.

Basic Overview:
The Affordable Connectivity Program is a $14.2 billion FCC benefit program that helps ensure that qualifying low-income households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare and more. The ACP is the successor program to the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program.

• The ACP benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households.
• Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.

The ACP is limited to one monthly service discount and one device discount per household.

Households may qualify for the ACP if they participate in Lifeline or one of the Lifeline qualifying programs or if it has an income at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or if a member of the household has received a federal Pell Grant during the current award year, is approved to participate in the National School Lunch or Breakfast Program (including Community Eligibility Provision schools), participates in the Special Supplemental Nutritional Program for Woman, Infants, and Children, or meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider’s existing low-income internet program.

Consider, while it is a short timeline (due in early January 2023), applying for an ACP Outreach Grant.  View this summary that links to the full program NOFO.

Below, see handouts shared with attendees of recent listening sessions on the FCC Map and Challenge process by the PA Broadband Development Authority.

Encourage patrons to submit a challenge for their address if they believe data on the map is incorrect.  Instruct members of your community to follow the individual challenge process, which is done through the FCC map directly. You may find more information and a number of helpful resources here.

Libraries may want to challenge the data on the map for their service location too.

This is a time-limited opportunity with bulk challenge submissions due Jan 9, 2023.  

While the deadline for map updates to impact original BEAD funding may have passed, residents and libraries are encouraged to continue to report inaccuracies to the map.  Better data will benefit all in the coming years.

Update your library’s website pages and printed brochures and handouts to ensure that the broadband technology services and resources offered at your location are clearly and accurately described to attract people in need. 

Take time to do a focus group or interview people who aren't familiar with your library's technology services.  

• Does your website clearly explain what patrons can expect when using library computers?
• Are policies and procedures for accessing services made available?
• Is the language and vocabulary simple enough for a lay person to understand?
• Do you promote the technology access and digital literacy help, services, and classes you provide to broadly to attract attention from community partners and the included populations?

Library staff need to keep their digital skils up to date so they can provide assistance to the public.

Be sure that your library budgets time for all staff to keep up to date and advance their own digital skills.  

Assess staff Digital Literacy Skills.  Use the framework created by Pennsylvania Adult Education Resources as a guide to competencies in 4 major areas:

1. Basic Computer and Mobile
2. Internet
3. Communication
4. Information Literacy

Some library specific examples for staff seving the public may be more advanced:  Do library staff know the following: :

• How to do basic troubleshooting of the public access computers.  
• How to help a patron access the library's wireless connection on their own device.
• How to help a patron turn on accessibility features such as screen reading or translataions in a web browser.
• How to help a patron adjust volume or use headsets.
• How to help a patron with a need to edit a document, a spreadsheet, a presentation, or a PDF.
• How to help a patron save a file to a flash drive or portable media.
• How to assist a patron who needs help filling out an online form. 
• How to assist patrons with printing, scanning, or other peripherals.
• Where to direct a patron with a question about home internet access.  (Do they know about the Affordable Connectivity Program and the National Broadband Map?)
• Where to find books and information to help a patron learn about safe internet use.  (There are some in POWER Library.)

How do library staff answer the reference question, "What options can I consider to get home or business internet service to my address here in Pennsylvania?"  

Check out some sources to consult to assist patrons in understanding connectivity options at their address:

National Broadband Map

Fixed Broadband Providers List (from DCED)  You can filter these lists by County.  

Mobile Broadband Providers List

Library Trustees are an important leader to engage to ensure that the public library role in technology is clear.

Talking Points for Library Board Members:

• Our library provides all members of our community with technology access.  We have (insert your library's public tech description here: # of new public computers with high speed internet, wifi for people to connect to on their own devices, mobile hotspots for lending, printers, a laptop lab, a computer lab, etc.)  
• Our library participates in the e-rate program to receive a discount on the price of our internet connection.  (Or, if you don't particpate, ensure trustees know it was a carefully considered decision and the board can explain why you don't apply.)

Action Ideas for Library Boards:

• Include Digital Equity update as an agenda item for your next board meeting.  Share internetforall.gov.   Discuss how your library can prioritize digital equity and the provision of broadband connected technology as one of the resources you share with your community.
• Pass a resolution supporting Digital Equity and Digital Inclusion as a priority for your library,
• Write a letter to your county commissioners or supporting municipalities to let them know what your library offers in terms of digital services for the community.  Also ask for what you need in the future and to be considered in community emergency plans.
• Review library technology policies with an Equity lens.  Ask who does the policy include / exclude?  Does the policy create any unnecessary barriers to access? 
• Create a Strategic Library Technology Plan:  Is the library's wireless internet secure enough for patrons to complete banking or personal information functions on?  Are the library computer workstations secure enough for financial transactions or personal information?  Can patrons use public workstations to create and upload content?
• When creating the library budget, ensure that trustees understand where costs for computers and technology are included.  Consider if the library's budget should include a regular line item to replace computers and network equipment on a regular cycle?  Consider the costs of connectivity, hardware, software, and licensing as well as staff costs to implement a technology plan.
• Consider appointing a temporary board or volunteer committee to give voice and action to Digital Equity work.  

Register for FREE as an affiliate member of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance here to have your organization listed on the website map and get a badge to share on your own media: https://www.digitalinclusion.org/join/.

Take this step to show that your library or library organization is committed to support inclusion and be listed on the map and receive a badge you can use to share that your library is committed to providing services (like public access computers and technology resources, secure wireless connections, and digital literacy classes or one-on-one support to help patrons learn digital literacy and complete necessary online tasks) that aim to close the digital divide and enhance opportunities for improving digital equity. (Somerset County Library and others have already signed up and proudly display the badge on their website.)

Where can libraries look to engage communities in conversation about broadband needs?  

Consult the list below to find ideas for organizations that may be collaborators, partners, or stakeholders that may help your library better understand what roles you can take on to support broadband access for your residents.

• Connect with community and economic development organizations in your area.  Find Certified Economic Development Organizations that serve your county. Reach out to learn what they are doing about broadband planning.  Share library resources (books and media, public computer access, meeting rooms), services (staff reference skills providing one-on-one assistance, classes in digital literacy), and needs.
• Consider if there is a planning commission doing work in your region, such as the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission: Southwestern Pennsylvania Connected - Equitable Broadband Access - Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (spcregion.org).  
• Engage with your Local Workforce Development Board to let them know about library programs and resources you offer to support the digital literacy needs of employers and the workforce. 
• Consider if an outreach to the OVR (Occupational and Vocational Rehabilitation) may get your library information on unmet needs of this special population.
• Talk to your Area Agency on Aging to see if library technology services can be utilized in plans to improve senior quality of life and connectedness. 
• Consider if your area has a County or Municipal Health Department.  They may have statistics, data, or information about community needs and response plans. 
• If there are nursing homes or hospitals or health care facilities in your service area, consider asking them for resident and staff needs for broadband. 
• Reach out to the Intermediate Unit in your service area, your school district, higher education partners such as community colleges or universities, and other Adult Education, ESL, and Literacy Organizations to seek collaboration and partnerships to provide and share the digital literacy skills resources offered.
• Learn about the needs that incarcerated individuals may have for re-entry.  Contact area prisons and jails to inform them about library services available. 
• Send a note or a letter or some contact to municipal or county government, letting them know what the library offers and what the library needs and that you are interested in being included in conversations about broadband and the provision of digital skills to those in need.  Often the parks and recreation department is an area of engagement to consider.  You can also talk about your library's role in municipal or county emergency plans.
• Make a library presentation to other organizations in your area, including your Chamber of Commerce or Community Action Agencies.
• Convene with any others, including other non-profits, arts organizations, museums, service clubs, large employers and major businesses, and groups working with special targeted populations in your area.