There is an announcement in the March 11, Federal Register for – Notice of public hearing; request
for comments.
The U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services is holding a public hearing, ‘‘Libraries and Broadband: Urgency and Impact,’’ to examine the need for high speed broadband in America’s libraries. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is charged with advising the President and Congress about the library, museum and
information service needs of the American public.
DATES: Public Hearing: April 17, 2014,
9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m. Requests to
Participate: Submit requests to
participate at the meeting by March 24,
2014. Written Comments: Written
comments received by May 1, 2014 will
be part of the record.
See full notice here.
Meeting
Clearly there are many people that could not attend this meeting due to geography and schedule. You can make written comments and they will be entered into the record. Might be a good chance to have your voice heard.
Broadband in Libraries
Small rural towns have trouble just getting internet to them let alone something that is fast. When you are in a town of under 500 people, most of which are below poverty level, and your small town has a library internet become important. Since so many can’t afford it themselves they come to the library. But if your internet is slow then the people wait and complain and can’t get the things done they need to get done.
Of course it is not the case only in small towns there are a lost of people who can’t afford internet, but we live in a world where we need internet.
To file taxes, unemployment and even job applications are all online these days.