Libraries are “so incredibly key to what gets...

world of information and ideas, and now that on-ramp is at gigabit speeds.” Libraries are playing an increasingly important role in American society, as students go there to get online after school, and Americans use Internet access there to apply for healthcare or a job, he said. E-rate modernization is important, Wheeler said. “Reallocations of resources are never easy, and never pleasant, but they're essential if we are to keep moving forward,” he said. The FCC is moving toward a “broadband to the person” model, focusing not just on bringing Internet to the library but to the individual inside the library, he said. “The key is not just more money -- although if more money is warranted, we will deal with that,” Wheeler said. “The key is money well-spent by encouraging consortia; by creating longer support periods so you can have longer contracts with lower rates; and by establishing a system of reference pricing so that people know what is a fair price.” Librarians aren’t expected to become telecom experts that can “haggle with telecom companies,” he said. Limited pilot programs will also test new approaches that could benefit everyone, Wheeler said. Andrew Carnegie built 2,500 libraries in a public-private partnership, defining information access for millions of people for more than a century, Wheeler said. “We stand on the precipice of being able to have the same kind of seminal impact on the flow of information and ideas in the 21st century,” he said. “That’s why reform of the E-rate program is so essential.” Parents have lost some focus on the idea that kids need to come to school prepared to learn, said Tom Power, deputy chief technology officer for telecom at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. The school is not just an “island” where education happens, he said; the whole community needs to be focused on educating children. That’s why the role of libraries is so important, Power said. He highlighted three NTIA case studies released Thursday on the impact of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program on connecting libraries (http://1.usa.gov/1l9dVBi). In Delaware, new job centers helped 420 people obtain job offers; in Michigan, the installation of several thousand computers saved users more than 160,000 hours of wait time per year for library computers; in Texas, a nonprofit technology group worked with libraries and social service organizations to train more than a million participants on computer and Internet use. “Libraries are truly centers of lifetime learning,” Power said.