Doors Open for Libraries, Schools to Apply for Telecomm Discounts Online

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/2/1998

Libraries and schools can now apply for the telecomm discounts mandated by the 1996 Telecomm Act's Universal Service Provision online, greatly speeding up the process. As of this past Friday, January 30, the web site created by the Schools and Libraries Corporation, the body created by the FCC to handle the disbursement of the subsidies, was open for business. Officials from libraries and schools can go to the site and fill out application forms detailing the kinds of services they are seeking. Organizations may also apply by mail. Information from applicants will be posted at the site, so that Internet service providers and other businesses interested in supplying the services can bid on them. The FCC appropriated $2.25 billion of annual funding for the initiative for FY98, but has subsequently slashed the first half of the year's allocation almost in half from roughly $1.1 billion to roughly $650 million. It remains to be seen whether libraries and schools will recover the full amount of the telecomm subsidies in the latter half of the year.