The American Library Association has created a report that places libraries in their role and potential role in providing digital equity serves in the midst of federal funding to help close to digital divide. The report is full of good info, tips and timelines….

This report highlights just some of the thousands of ways America’s 117,000 libraries of all types—including school, public, community college, college & research, tribal, and special—are instrumental in supporting and advancing digital equity.

Libraries:

■ Bring the internet to their community.

■ Aid their community in building digital skills.

■ Create informed internet users.

■ Support workforce development and entrepreneurship.

■ Support and connect their residents to social services and telehealth.

■ Lend or provide technology like computers, tablets, hotspots, etc., to users who do not have one.

■ Build coalitions of community partners to create digitally equitable communities.

Libraries have a proven track record over many decades of advancing these activities. Funding libraries will allow us to not only support these efforts in our community now but allow us to build and implement new approaches that can promote and support digital equity, literacy, and inclusion in the years to come.

Finally, ALA recommends that:

■ State broadband leaders and policymakers include state library agencies in statewide digital equity planning groups and leverage their unparalleled reach into all public libraries to strengthen communications and outreach statewide;

■ State and local education agencies include K-12 school librarians and college and university library leaders in digital equity planning and deployment;

■ Libraries increase awareness of their local technology assets to improve coordination across all levels of government and develop grant proposal ideas for the forthcoming funding programs;

■ Congress enable sustainable funding for digital equity through measures like the Digital Equity Foundation Act; and

■ Federal agencies continuously work to reduce administrative and record-keeping barriers that limit participation by small libraries and other community-based entities and increase incentives and streamlining for consortial applications. ALA will continue to synthesize and share policy information and best practices libraries and allies can use to build a digitally equitable future for all. Learn more online at ala.org/ advocacy/broadband.