Aggregating broadband demand: Surveying the benefits and challenges for public libraries

Public libraries in the United States play an important role in their communities by providing free internet access to all residents. Research exists that discusses public library connectivity by investigating funding, technical aspects, and library mission, and that also promotes membership in regional or state consortia as a means of making broadband internet connections more affordable. The research discussed here builds upon these works by asking the question: Do the benefits of aggregation, or pooling demand, justify the investment of state library resources in establishing and maintaining a library cooperative to support internet access? It reports on a survey of Indiana public library directors on questions related to connectivity, E-rate funding, and participation in the Public Library Internet Consortium, a statewide cooperative established by the Indiana State Library. The survey was conducted by Dr. Mary Alice Ball, who was affiliated with Indiana University School of Library and Information Science, Indianapolis while conducting the relevant research. Dr. Ball chairs the Telecommunications Subcommittee of the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy.