<div dir="ltr"><div>At their most recent meeting, the OPLIN Board decided to upgrade all OPLIN public library circuits to at least 100 Mbps, a total of about 100 upgrades, though there may be a few sites where 100 Mbps is not yet feasible on the available telecommunications infrastructure. 100 Mbps is the minimum bandwidth recommended for public libraries by the Federal Communications Commission, and because that is also the bandwidth recommended for many schools, pricing from telecommunications vendors for 100 Mbps circuits is usually very competitive. With OPLIN's E-rate discount, the increase in annual cost should not be prohibitive.</div><div><br></div><div>Accordingly, OPLIN has posted an E-rate Form 470 requesting bids from telecommunication vendors for these upgrades. We specifically asked that vendors contact OPLIN if they need to visit any libraries for an engineering review, but some vendors may not notice that instruction. If people from a telecommunication vendor (such as AT&T, for example) show up at your library unexpectedly, feel free to call OPLIN (toll-free 888-966-7546) and put them on the line so we can talk to them.</div><div><br></div><div>Once we have received bids from vendors, we will have a more accurate idea of which libraries do not have the infrastructure in their area to support 100 Mbps and can notify those libraries that they will not get a 100 Mbps circuit – yet. We will keep trying until we can get one for every public library on OPLIN.</div><div><br></div><div>Since we will need to apply for E-rate discounts on these circuits to keep them affordable, we will be trying to time the installation of the upgrades for around the beginning of July next year, when the E-rate funding year starts. OPLIN staff will be in touch with each library throughout the installation process.</div><div><br></div><div>For libraries needing larger circuits, and for OPLIN participants that are not public libraries, we will continue our current policy of monitoring bandwidth usage and upgrading to a larger circuit whenever a participant is using 70% of its current capacity at peak usage times. Note that the 100 Mbps upgrades for many libraries will mean they will not hit the 70% usage level for many years and will not need to go through another upgrade process for a long time.</div><div><br></div><div>A few states have set a minimum size of 10 Mbps for their public libraries, but I am not aware of any state that has tried to meet the FCC recommendation. We may soon be able to boast that at least the main public libraries in Ohio have achieved that benchmark.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Stephen Hedges</div><div>Director, Ohio Public Library Information Network</div><div>2323 W. Fifth Ave Suite 130, Columbus 43204</div><div>614-728-5250</div></div></div></div>
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