Knight Commission Says Libraries Crucial to Democracy; Foundation Offers $3.1M in Grants
Will fund job help center in Charlotte, netbooks in Tallahassee
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 10/5/2009
- 15 recommendations
- Libraries should teach digital literacy
- Universal broadband, open records also recommended
The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, which concluded that America’s communities need a free flow of useful information, has set out 15 recommendations, including universal broadband, increased support for public service media, more open public records, digital and media literacy as critical to education, and the need to fund libraries and other community institutions for computer access and teaching digital literacy.
In response, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, supporter of the commission, has offered $3.1 million in grants to help library users in 13 communities. Notably, the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, NC, will use $804,100 to supplement private and public funding to create a new 7500 square foot Job Help Center at the Main Library.
The Knight Foundation funding will help provide new computer equipment and infrastructure improvements, allowing those at the Job Help Center to spend three hours, rather than just one, using computers.
Netbooks in Tallahassee
An $83,250 Knight grant will help the LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library System, Tallahassee, FL, nearly double the number of computers at its branches. The library will purchase 150 netbooks, aiming to cut down on the often hour-long wait to use a computer.
The foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. The other grants have not yet been announced.
The commission recommendation
The commission’s recommendation regarding libraries, in full:
America’s libraries need sufficient funding to serve as centers for information, training, and civic dialogue. Public libraries are located in nearly all communities in the United States. Most of them are wired for Internet service. Nearly all offer public Internet, and almost three quarters are the only providers of free public computer and Internet access in their communities.These libraries need additional resources to serve the public’s digital needs. Inner city libraries frequently have extensive waiting times for computer use. Libraries need to support the software programs necessary to enable neighborhood youth to work on their homework assignments.
They also need the resources and support to work effectively towards improving digital literacy. For example, the Commission proposes that funds should be available to public libraries for mobile teaching labs to provide digital literacy instruction to members of the public. Eligibility to receive a mobile teaching unit could be based on E-rate criteria—that is, the criteria already used to qualify schools and libraries for discounted telecommunication services under the FCC-directed Universal Service program. Approximately 10,000 public libraries applied for E-rate discounts in 2008, and E-rate funds might also be made available for a mobile teaching initiative. This approach would ensure that the communities that most need the mobile teaching units would have priority consideration.
The Commission also endorses digital literacy funding for community institutions, such as community centers and community-based development organizations. These organizations provide crucial services in the area of digital and media training, and can be useful sites to engage even moderately Internet-capable adults in sharing their knowledge with those less skilled. Community organizations that already serve as trusted information providers to underserved populations are well situated to help integrate their clients more effectively into the community’s information networks.
