Subject: [gaia] FW: "What's a Library...? Topeka to Tipperary" Zoom Friday 5/8 Registration now Open (5/1 notes included) *** call to action adendum ***

From: Jane Coffin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 6 May 2020 13:10:00 +0000

Hi All –

Please see the note, below, from Don Means about sessions with libraries and their role in connecting people/digital skills development.
This series has been very interesting.  It is amazing to see what libraries are doing around the world to help people stay/get connected.

Best,
Jane

Senior Vice President, Internet Growth
Internet Society
+1.202.247.8429
www.internetsociety.org

From: Don Means <[email-masked]>
Reply-To: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 1:30 AM
To: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Subject: "What's a Library...? Topeka to Tipperary" Zoom Friday 5/8 Registration now Open (5/1 notes included) *** call to action adendum ***

Hi All,

This Friday 5/8 Zoom Part 9 is now OPEN<http://giglibraries.net/page-1712339>. Two leading librarians in Kansas & Ireland will share stories from “Topeka to Tipperary!”

We want to thank the over 1200 people who’ve registered for the series and been showing up! We hope you’ll keep coming to find something interesting &/or helpful in meeting the challenges of the pandemic. And as an end-of-the-week chance to reflect on all the changes still to come.  And that you’re also feeling free to send in any ideas for topics and speakers. We’ve had 26 excellent presentations so far, all recorded and available on the Pandemic Response page at GigLbraries.Net<http://GigLbraries.Net> which also has the REGISTRATION link<http://giglibraries.net/page-1712339>

Notes session on Friday May 1 with 4 excellent speakers below. Recordings are now live on Registration page<http://giglibraries.net/page-1712339>.

Spread the word and see you then!

Be well.
GLN Team
*********************************************************************

"What is a Library if the Building is Closed?" Part 9
From Topeka, Kansas to Tipperary, Ireland, we'll hear the latest perspectives from two leading librarians, each attempting to cope with surging demand for digital services and access while they also search for more ways to serve those without conenctions as well as their communities at large. How similar or different are the stories of libraries around the world? We are all in this together and libraries everywhere can help knit that global community together.
David Lee King is the Digital Services Director at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, where he plans,implements, and experiments with emerging technology trends. He speaks internationally about emerging trends, social media, websites and libraries, and has been published in many library-related journals.
Stuart Hamilton, Head, Libraries Development for Ireland, as the national advisor on libraries in the local government sector he's responsible for the strategic development of the public library service and implementation of national public library strategy.

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ASSURING ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION IS AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE.

****************************************************************** Notes from 5/1 Zoom Friday ******************************************

Don Means introduced the eighth in the series of webinars on how libraries are delivering services despite the obligation to keep their doors closed.

Sharon Strover, Professor of Communications, University of Texas shared reflections on a study into the lending of library hotspots carried out the Institute for Museum and Library Services. She highlighted the popularity of the services, but also potential limitations, including the lack of a good mobile signal in many parts of the country. Nonetheless, hotspots were much valued by immigrants, people in rural communities, home-schoolers, and people on pre-paid mobiles (often those without regular incomes). They were used for activities from filling in forms to Skype and education. In terms of how programmes operate, lending seems more popular than simply giving hotspots away. It seems to make a difference when libraries are supported both through technical advice and building communities. Other tips included ensuring that libraries get unlimited data plans, good agreements with users (including on what happens when hotspots are not returned), transparency about waiting lists, and good relationships with ISPs.

Sara Jones, County Librarian Marin, California talked about her experience with hotspot lending as Director of Libraries in Marin County. Despite proximity to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, California still had a lot of rural coastline with poor connectivity, and so there was a real demand for hotspots in order to allow people to get on with their lives. Each hotspot also came with a library card, which promised to get 780 more students involved in summer learning. There were challenges also however, with a major one being around liability and compliance with CIPA in terms of content filtering. One positive from this, at least, was to understand where the hotspot may not be being used by the person it was intended for.

Sara also highlighted efforts to go a step further and create a mesh WiFi network in a part of town where poor connectivity was concentrated via the Canal Student WiFi network - this offered a possibility to provide an enhanced service for 2,000 students in the densely populated neighborhood.

Scott Allen, Deputy Dir. Public Library Association talked about the new initiative it had launched to improve connectivity and access across public libraries in the United States. Working with Microsoft's Airband Initiative, the focus was on providing either WiFi hotspots or computers to users through rural libraries, with 28 States already involved with libraries themselves often able to do the installation (which saved resources for other things). This responded to a real need across the country. There were also innovative efforts to take the WiFi points further still, and to promote complementary initiatives such as digitallearn.org<http://digitallearn.org/>, which focuses on digital literacy.

Scott’s call to action: 1) please promote our opportunities for libraries and apply for them if appropriate. They are the PLA and Microsoft Public WiFi Access Micro Grant Program (http://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/publicwifi/) and Libraries Lead with Digital Skills (http://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/google). And 2) please use and promote the online training tools at DigitalLearn.org<http://DigitalLearn.org> (https://www.digitallearn.org/).

Joseph Wender, Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Ed Markey (MA) spoke last, sharing an update on the legislation introduced into the Senate in order to increase the resources available for digital inclusion through an additional $4bn for the eRate programme. This has been a cause Senator Markey had promoted for years, but which was as vital as ever now with the pandemic exposing the impacts of the digital divide - to the point that the original proposal for a $2bn fund had been doubled. The goal of this money was to provide for rapid access, rather than making it necessary to wait for the next window of applications for eRate funding, and so if successful, there would be a process for rapid application.

Joey’s call to action: “…we need are more cosponsors — we plan to intro later in the week.  Here’s the info: https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-van-hollen-bennet-hassan-and-colleagues-plan-to-introduce-legislation-to-direct-4-billion-in-e-rate-funds-to-close-growing-learning-gap-in-coronavirus-pandemic"

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