We are pleased to be able to provide input on the impact of having access to secure and sufficient funding for our library’s WiFi and internal connections. Our county is the smallest populated county in Kentucky and WiFi is crucial to our community. Due to the terrain and population, the main broadband provider is only available 3 miles from the center of town, which leaves many households without a reliable high-speed Internet connection. Not only in our community, but in communities across the country, people turn to the library to use WiFi on their tablets, laptops, and other devices. Library patrons are downloading job applications, applying for financial aid, seeking health information, filing unemployment and communicating with family - all dependent on a strong WiFi signal. The nearest college is 25 miles away and many of our patrons use our WiFi for their classwork. There is no industry in our county so a large percentage of people travel out of the county to work. They can be seen using our WiFi in the library parking lot after hours, many nights per week. The library’s WiFi is an important part of educating children. Our school cannot afford a subscription to the Kentucky Virtual Library, which provides high-quality library and information resources to support information literacy, college and career readiness, academic research and lifelong learning. Classes from the local school will be coming to the library with their Chrome Books to access these invaluable KYVL databases through our WiFi. Many of our patrons use their cell phones to quickly access the library’s WiFi. We do not have a daily newspaper or local television channel so these patrons use our WiFi to access daily and monthly community events that we post on our calendar, and the 24/7 news ticker on our website. As you can see, the library’s WiFi is vital to the survival of our community and their ability to connect. Our library is funded annually by local tax dollars and a small state-aid grant. Without Category 2 funding, we cannot maintain and upgrade our WiFi connectivity to meet the needs of the community. Please maintain secure funding through the full five year budget period as adopted during the 2014 Modernization.
Carol Mitchell, Director, Robertson County Public Library, filing a comment in support of the e-rate program on the FCC website.
Have a similar story you want to share with the FCC, or just looking to show your support for e-rate? Find out how you can help.
