E-Rate State Coordinators workshop

The first week of May, public library E-rate coordinators from 45 states and territories spent a day and a half in Chicago at the fourth E-Rate State Coordinators workshop.  These workshops are hosted by ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) and funded by the Gates Foundation. 

Research conducted in 2006 showed that library applicants received less than 5% of the E-Rate program funding.  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with OITP to assess and increase library participation in the federal E-rate program.  OITP has been focusing on strategic training for state E-Rate coordinators who work with libraries.  Most of these coordinators have other duties within their state agencies and can dedicate only a small portion of their time to E-Rate.  Yet, this is a program which may require much one-to-one assistance because of the complexity of and/or fears associated with the program. 

The May program was the fourth workshop hosted by ALA.  All workshops have been led by E-rate expert and OITP consultant Linda Schatz.  John Noran, Schools and Library Division, was also present for part of the presentations.  Much of the workshop focused on procurement issues, CIPA, and Denials/Modifications/Changes for 2007. 

What is perhaps most beneficial at all of the workshops to date is the sharing among state coordinators as to how they promote E-Rate in their state and how they balance E-rate responsibilities with other job duties.  I picked up a few ideas from my counterparts which you will see rolling out in the near future.  We do an OK job in Ohio of promoting E-Rate.  With approximately 50% of our public libraries participating in Ohio, we probably fall in the “above average” category.  But we can do better and the State Library certainly hopes to have as many public libraries as possible (i.e. ALL) participate in the E-Rate program. 

For the FY07 funding year 115 public libraries and OPLIN received E-Rate funds.  The total received was $4,499,930.73.  Of that amount, $1,405,372.80 was for OPLIN.  SLD has just begun to release funding waves for the 2008-2009 years.  Already 77 Ohio public libraries have received funding commitment letters.

OITP has assessed the rateof E-rate participation among libraries before and after the training sessions began, and found that more libraries applied for and received E-rate funds after the training sessions were initiated. They feel the training has benefited state E-Rate coordinators and by extension, public libraries.  It is anticipated that another round of training will be held in Fall 2008.