Public Libraries Can’t Fill Digital Divide Alone, Senate Committee Told
Jennifer Pinkowski -- Library Journal, 9/7/2007
Public libraries alone cannot fill the digital divide that plagues rural Arkansas, Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System director David Burdick told United States Senators and officials from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 28. Burdick testified in Little Rock at the Central Arkansas Library System’s downtown branch before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in a field hearing on the accessibility and affordability of broadband in Arkansas organized by Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR).Though rural public libraries often provide the only access to the Internet in rural communities, their frequent dependency on dial-up, a dedicated 56K line, or DSL means that Internet access is often lost “simply because the phone company plugged another user into an antiquated equipment which was not intended to carry the load,” Burdick told the committee. “This is not adequate, and unfortunately is typical of small, rural libraries throughout Arkansas. We are letting our citizens down by not offering a fast and reliable connection to meet their needs.” Long-distance Ethernet or fiber optic networks would allow users to "have quick access to our educational institutions," he said.
Burdick was one of several Arkansans who testified to the need for high-tech infrastructure in the state, which ranks 47 out of 50 in broadband access. He noted there is little market incentive for technology companies to invest in areas like Jefferson County, where the five-branch library system serves a population of 82,000, 20 percent of whom live below the poverty line. (The American Library Association has reported a major bandwith gap facing libraries, as has a Florida State University study.)
FCC chairman Jonathan Adelstein, who attended the hearing, suggested such incentives could include tax breaks for companies investing in broadband service in underserved areas. (A 2006 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ranked the United States 15th among industrialized countries in terms of broadband penetration.) In Arkansas, the state legislature has passed the Connect Arkansas Broadband Act, a public-private technology partnership that will follow a model in Kentucky, where broadband access rates have increased from 60 percent to 94 percent since 2004. Burdick urged that “public libraries of Arkansas must be included in all discussions and that solutions are found to bring Arkansas and Arkansas public libraries up to speed.”
