[OPLINTECH] #ARRA clarification

[Stephen Hedges]

After talking to quite a few librarians yesterday, as well as with Missy 
Lodge and Tom Fritz, I think we need to clarify some things about the 
proposed broadband stimulus statewide applications.

First, remember that the whole point of the ARRA was to create jobs and 
stimulate the economy. In fact, as part of our statewide applications we 
will have to provide a reasonable estimate of the number of jobs we will 
be creating.

Putting more public computers in libraries--the State Library or "OPAL 
I" application--is one tool toward creating jobs and stimulating the 
economy. The intended use of this tool is training the public to use 
computers effectively and thus increase their productivity--which is the 
Connect Ohio or "OPAL II" application--which has tremendous potential to 
stimulate local economies. The goal of the overall project is to reach 
more citizens than currently use your facility, introducing them to the 
value of broadband.

The OPAL I and OPAL II projects go hand-in-hand, and it is expected that 
each library will participate in a portion of the OPAL II project. 
Without a strong training and outreach component, the OPAL I application 
will be significantly weakened. Without adequate numbers of computers in 
libraries, the additional users won't have sufficient equipment. We need 
to have strong OPAL I and strong OPAL II participation from 
libraries. The main reason that they are separated into two portions is 
in order to better qualify under the NTIA's eligibility guidelines.

Without your participation in the OPAL II portion, it is unlikely that 
the number of computers will be justified, and the equipment grant may 
be rejected. The number of computers assumes that your library system is 
included in the Public Awareness campaign (within OPAL II) that will 
drive additional patron traffic into your library. If you already have 
sufficient technical support and/or training staff to deliver additional 
training and to service these additional computers, you could ignore 
those cost elements in your support letter. To some extent, new users 
can be self-trained through the online Learn 2 (Learning Express) 
curriculum where no trainers exist.

However, it is not the expectation of the State Library that you would 
reject participation in OPAL II, which is designed to drive citizens to 
your library for training and use of computers. The board letter should 
address both components individually, not because they are optional 
components, but because they are separate grants that are being 
submitted as a collaborative program. Note that the "Library Board 
Support and Match Letter" at 
http://www.oplin.org/information-and-forms-statewide-arra-applications 
is worded accordingly.

Now, the data spreadsheets some of you received from Connect Ohio are 
pretty complex, because they deal with a lot of factors. (If you 
responded to the Connect Ohio survey and did not get a spreadsheet, or 
the data in your spreadsheet is corrupted, email 
rtakach at connectohio.org.) What'll you see there are system-wide 
recommendations calculated by Connect Ohio--and this system-wide data 
has been aggregated into one row in the spreadsheet, which may or may 
not be the row for your main library. (Connect Ohio is not familiar with 
the relationships between your locations.) You'll also see 
recommendations for training costs.

It is important to remember that all these recommendations assume that 
you will provide some computers for training, and also that Connect 
Ohio's public awareness campaign will drive more people into your 
libraries wanting to use computers. Without a training component, it 
will be hard to justify requesting that number of computers.

Connect Ohio's goal is to create about 100 full-time equivalent trainers 
across the state. (This will be the direct job creation component of the 
statewide applications.) They are very interested in sub-contracting 
with libraries to supply these trainers. So if your library has staff 
you'd like to retain or re-hire who can do computer training, it is 
possible you could cover 70% of their cost through the Connect Ohio OPAL 
II grant application.

I hope this clarifies a few things. I encourage you to talk with Tom 
Fritz today (614-220-0190) if you have questions about how your library 
can participate in the training portion of the statewide applications. 
And please, as you send Missy Lodge your equipment requests today and 
tomorrow, try to include some computers for training use, not just for 
general Internet access.

-- 
Stephen Hedges, Director
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
2323 W. Fifth Ave., Suite 130
Columbus, OH 43204
614-728-5250  ::  AIM: hedgesst