Cenic.org

Our Evolving Public Libraries: Gigabit Connections Bring Fresh Ambitions

Categories Cultural & Scientific Libraries

Tags aspen institute california state library conference

In 2013, California public libraries began connecting to CENIC’s California Research and Education Network (CalREN) to access high-speed broadband, which gives them dramatically faster and more reliable bandwidth for a cost savings of up to 95%. Some libraries are connected now with increased speeds of 10 to 100 times their earlier capacity. The Los Angeles Public Library even became the first public library in the world with a 100-gigabit-per-second connection. This transition to CalREN has vastly improved library function for the staffs and made possible new offerings to patrons in terms of technology and community resources.

Envisioning a Larger Role

While improvements in connectivity and programming are remarkable on their own, greater changes are afoot among public libraries, in California, and across the nation. Many communities are envisioning a larger role for these long-trusted institutions in our midst.

California will have a unique opportunity to re-introduce its residents to the public library as a central community pillar beginning in 2020 when local neighborhood polling places may be replaced with voting centers. Libraries will be the place to drop off completed ballots or to cast one’s vote. A broader swath of people will be reacquainted with their local library’s facility, staff, and resources, which these days can go well beyond novels and a reference desk to supporting social services, civic engagement, education, and work.

Promoting an inspiring new vision is the Aspen Institute’s Dialogue on Public Libraries. In December 2018, Director Amy Garmer and her team convened a roundtable of leaders in Sacramento to ask some big questions about what California libraries are capable of now with high-speed internet access through CENIC. Garmer challenged the room at the outset: “What are the new norms that libraries can be redefining for culture and society?” The discussion was wide-ranging and enthusiastic, and for the CENIC community, some central themes illustrate an exciting vision for our libraries.

Lifelong learning and co-working/creative common space. With their high-speed bandwidth, libraries are becoming the place for patrons to work remotely, meet up to collaborate, hold study groups, take online courses, and complete training programs and certification testing. For youngsters, libraries may be the place they are first introduced to new technologies and can get to experiment with hardware and software, igniting their curiosity. Schools and community colleges can encourage these activities, and the libraries can act as campus extensions. Extended hours and alternative programming can also create a safe and positive environment for young adults to gather and get exposure to tools and habits that support lifelong learning.

Building community resilience. Recent wildfires have shown that libraries provide community resource centers in times of crisis. High-speed broadband service through CENIC’s CalREN network enabled the Napa County Library to serve as a communications hub during recent wildfires. Library facilities are designed to accommodate large groups of people and support information dissemination, unlike other government facilities. People look to libraries as a trusted resource, and their staffs are trained in information services.

Going beyond the constraints of walls into the community. Still, many rural places and some urban neighborhoods do not have adequate access to the internet. While residents in such locations can get access at the library facility, what if the library took hotspots out into the community? The Libraries Whitespace Project is geared to support adoption of TV White Space (TVWS), which can increase availability and convenience of library Wi-Fi access at new fixed or portable community hotspots. Communities across the country have begun to install TVWS units to provide remote access points in parks, community centers, shelters, kiosks, and underserved library branches.

Preserving information and creating content. Robust bandwidth and high-speed broadband are just an empty pipe without a rich repository of content to fill it. Libraries have always had an important role in maintaining archives and making content available to the public. But now their role can grow as patrons become the creators of content and chroniclers of their community. Already, many resources exist through institutions such as the Digital Public Library of America and the Internet Archive.

The panel for “Beyond Connectivity: Reimagining Public Libraries as Platforms for Learning and Innovation” at CENIC’s 2019 Conference: Jarrid Keller, Sara Jones, John Horrigan, and Amy Garmer

Accomplishing New Service Goals

But the question remains: Once a public library has embraced a more ambitious public service goal, how will it get there? Some of the essential ingredients in the roadmap are: to develop library staff who are more technically savvy; to upgrade some network hardware and infrastructure; to support leadership in executing new initiatives and to open their staff’s mindset to include broader interpretations of what libraries can accomplish.

To further support public libraries in this evolution, the Aspen team continued this discussion at CENIC’s annual conference in March 2019 with a broader audience. Panel discussions and workshop sessions culminated in an ad-hoc meeting of librarians to brainstorm how to develop forums and a platform for a community of practice with partners such as Califa, the California State Library, and CENIC.

Garmer said, “There is a lot of energy and interest around the development of public libraries within the CENIC community. We look forward to helping to channel that energy and momentum into ongoing dialogue and constructive initiatives that maximize CENIC and the CalREN network in California communities.”

Watch the panel discussion, “Beyond Connectivity: Reimagining Public Libraries as Platforms for Learning and Innovation,” and check out more content from the 2019 CENIC Conference.

See the report on the Aspen Institute's December 2018 roundtable: Aspen Institute Offers Strategies for Using High-Speed Broadband in California to Drive Equity, Learning Innovation and Civic Participation.

Related Content:

Related blog posts

From the Ground to the Stars: Critical Big-Data Research in Africa

Get Your Cybersecurity Program Up and Running with the Trusted CI Framework