Digital Inclusion and Montana Libraries
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A first look at Toward Broadband Libraries Toolkit Data for Montana Libraries - presented at SHLB AnchorNets 2019 Conference
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Digital Inclusion and Montana Libraries
- 1. ASSESSING BROADBAND AS FIRST STEP TOWARD DIGITAL INCLUSION IN MONTANA LIBRARIES SUZANNE REYMER MONTANA STATE LIBRARY SHLB ANCHORNETS 2019
- 2. FROM BROADBANDNOW AUGUST 2018
- 7. PERCENT OF FAMILIES BELOW POVERTY LEVEL 2012
- 8. GETTING THE STORY ON MONTANA LIBRARIES
- 11. TYPES OF CONNECTIVITY IN MT PUBLIC LIBRARIES
- 12. QUICK DATA
- 13. WHAT ARE MONTANA LIBRARIES AND THEIR PATRONS MISSING OUT ON DUE TO INADEQUATE BANDWIDTH? FLICKR CC BY-SA 2.0 VISUALPUN.CH
- 14. NEXT STEPS • Simmons University analysis and study of our data to help us identify: • Those libraries that are worst off first to help us prioritize our investment • What options or low hanging fruit might exist to help address the concerns most quickly? • What data are available that might compel investment to solve the problem?
Editor's Notes
- We’ve been hovering near the bottom for years. This report put us at #50.
- Why? We have a number of challenges. First of all. Montana is a very big state. I thought I’d put it in perspective by showing its relative size in comparison to other states. We just hosted a regional RIPL. Our pre-conference speaker was Dr. Annie Norman from the State Library of Delaware. I got curious about the relative size of our two states. There you go. There’s Delaware.
- Plus we have a challenging terrain, mountain ranges, badlands, buttes, wilderness areas. BTW, we also have great mapping with a GIS department within our state library.
- And low population density. The entire state has just over one million people. Yes, there is white space, lots of yellow. Not much blue or red. Few urban areas. Even those are small by national standards. I live in the largest city in Montana, Billings, with a population of just over 100,000.
- We have a fairly large Native American population about 7 percent of the population. Many live in urban areas but we also have 7 reservations.
- And fairly high poverty levels. If you recall where the reservations were from the last slide, you’ll see, those also tend to be some of the areas with the highest poverty rates.
- When we heard about the Gigabit Libraries Toolkit, we were very interested. We thought it could provide a treasure trove of data about our libraries and their strengths and weaknesses. But we seriously doubted that many had the time and/or expertise to complete it successfully. In the meantime, MSL had created a state library foundation to help provide funding for statewide projects. With a grant from this new non-profit, we hired a consultant.
- They were tasked with traveling around the state to visit 117 public libraries and elicit the information necessary to complete the Gigabit Libraries Toolkit for all the libraries along with a report. He ended up with information from 113 libraries. Two were school/community libraries where he either couldn't make contact with school IT personnel or they refused to cooperate. Two branches did not have Internet connectivity.
- The next challenge was to elicit information from ISPs as to whether or not they could provide service to a given library as well as potential service and cost. The dark blue and light purple shows the coverage of our regional telco/cooperative/ISPs. We contacted 13 and asked them to complete an online survey. We got 8 responses. We had previous information from Spectrum, our regional cable/ISP, whose service area overlaps with several ISPs. We opted not to contact CenturyLink. For one thing, we didn’t know whom to contact. For another, they have been very difficult to work with. Also on this map is fiber. The dark red and nodes are backbone. The lighter red in fiber generally due to buildouts by local telcos.
- Libraries are pretty much evenly split at the moment between Fiber and DSL – 41DSL, 40 Fiber. The DSL libraries could certainly use some improvement. The satellite/other is sometimes wireless, sometimes no response.
- The average download speeds were appallingly low and this is even with some outliers like the Billings Community Library/College branch skewing the results. The average costs are low as are the speeds. The low cost also makes them less likely to hassle with E-Rate. Over half don’t filter. Also impedes use of E-Rate. Why don’t they use E-Rate? The E-rate application process is too complicated. Our E-rate discount is low and we don't feel it is worth the time to participate. The library did not apply because of the need to comply with the filtering requirements of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Higher bandwidth may well lead to higher costs and a need for subsidies.
- They do have a pretty good idea of what they’re missing out on with inadequate bandwidth – largely streaming video and its many uses: Online testing, Distance Learning/Online courses, Videoconferencing - Virtual field trips for homeschool students, Videoconferencing - Job interviews, Videoconferencing - Patron video chat with family members and friends, etc., Streaming video (YouTube, etc.),