News Report # 1

“ALA Office for Information Technology Policy files broadband stimulus application”

Jenni Terry, Press Officer ALA Washington Office

August 18^th, 2009

http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/august2009/techpolicy_wo.cfm

With wireless broadband internet being ever-more popular in our universities today, the American Library Association Office for Technology Policy filed a statement to the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program that requests funding to help out a project in pursuit of helping Librarians manage, understand, and control broadband capacity. The sum that they have their eyes set on is $1.6 million dollars. As technology is becoming more consistent in our schools and universities it’s vital that we provide our Librarians with the proper resources to manage and maintain them. Studies have shown that the majority of Librarians do not have the proper resources that would allow them to take advantage of broadband capabilities to their greatest extent.

I believe that this motion is a great idea. As technology is always changing and improving it’s almost impossible for Librarians to be able to keep up with every aspect of broadband capabilities and limits. If approved, this will allow Universities to be more effective and economical when it comes to wireless internet and all of the entities that go along with it. The complexity of our universities internet system is a prime example of why I think that this would be a great help. I, as a student have difficulty understanding our broadband network as a whole and struggle with it quite regularly. Setting this program up will not only broaden our Librarians knowledge of the systems and how they run but will also allow them to inform the faculty and students in more depth about the systems and how they run. In today’s society, it’s very vital that the knowledge of broadband technology be fully understood by those who are in control of it.