================================================================= ALAWON Volume 5, Number 18 ISSN 1069-7799 April 12, 1996 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: ALA PRESIDENT BETTY TUROCK TESTIFIES BEFORE FCC-JOINT BOARD ON AFFORDABLE RATES FOR LIBRARIES AND SCHOOLS _________________________________________________________________ _ ALA PRESIDENT BETTY TUROCK TESTIFIES BEFORE FCC-JOINT BOARD ON AFFORDABLE RATES FOR LIBRARIES AND SCHOOLS ALA President Betty Turock testified today before the FCC-Joint Board on how discounted telecommunications rates for libraries and schools should be implemented. "The library mission is to provide the American public with access to the whole world of electronic information," Turock explained. "Technology is changing rapidly, and many of the most interesting and useful information services are at the leading edge. Libraries need more than a telephone and modem. They need discounted access to the full range of telecommunications services." The Telecommunications Act of 1996 mandates for the first time, that libraries and schools be considered universal service providers. In her testimony, Turock offered the following recommendations from ALA: * Any telecommunication service offered by a carrier should be available to libraries at a discount. * Core universal services for the residential consumers should be defined, at the very least, as the level of technology required for entry level access to the Internet. * Any telecommunication service offered commercially should be made available to libraries at the lower of either the lowest price offered to any customer or the Total Service Long Run Incremental Cost, which covers a company's cost of offering a service and is similar to a wholesale price. * Carriers should be required to certify that their rate for libraries is the lowest available. * Libraries and schools in rural, insular and high-cost areas should receive deeper discounts because of the special barriers to affordable connections. ALA filed formal comments with the FCC giving details of its recommendations on April 10. An executive summary of the ALA comments will be posted in an ALAWON on April 15. This and additional materials on ALA's activities and other information related to the FCC-Joint Board proceedings on universal service will also be available shortly on the ALA gopher/web site. ALA's comments were endorsed by the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), and the Urban Libraries Council (ULC). Several other libraries and state library agencies appeared to have filed comments in these proceedings as well. ALA also signed on to a joint filing with a number of other education groups, including the National School Boards Association (NSBA), the National Education Association(NEA), and the Consortium of School Networks (CoSN). Other participants on the library-education panel representing members of that coalition included Gordon Ambach, Council of Chief State School Officers, and John Yrchik, Executive Director of the Connecticut Education Association, an affiliate of NEA. James Parry, Director of Technology & Innovations in Education, from the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative, in South Dakota was also a panelist. Industry representatives on this library-education panel included Frank Gumper, NYNEX Vice President for Federal Regulatory Planning and Laura Wilson, the Florida Cable Television Association. In addition to the library-education panel, the other panels appearing today before the Joint Board addressed consumer, low-income, rural and health care issues. The FCC-Joint Board was authorized by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and is comprised of three FCC Commissioners, four state utilities commissioners nominated by the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (NARUC), and one consumer advocate nominated by the National Association of State Utilities Consumer Advocates (NASUCA). (See several recent issues of ALAWON, Vol. 5, including nos. 12, 13, and 16 for additional background on the FCC Universal Service Proceedings.) Though time was limited, several important questions and comments were made in response to the panelists. Turock's testimony was cited by Washington State Commissioner Sharon Nelson as being of special interest. Similarly, South Dakota Commissioner Laska Schoenfelder asked one of the panelists dealing with low income consumers, about libraries serving as universal access points. There were no hostile questions, although the comments from these two Joint Board members seemed especially supportive of libraries in the universal service mix. Members of the Joint Board are: From the FCC: Chairman Reed Hundt (who will chair the Joint Board), Commissioners Rachelle Chang and Susan; from NARUC: Sharon Nelson, Washington State Utility and Transportation Commission; Laska Schoenfelder, South Dakota Public Utility Commission; Ken McClure, Missouri Public Service Commission; Julia Johnson, and Florida Public Service Commission; from NASUCA: Martha Hogorty, Missouri Public Counsel. NEXT STEPS: The next FCC deadline will be May 7 for Reply Comments. ALA will be reviewing the formal Comments from others and will report on pertinent proposals in future issues of ALAWON. Other libraries, state library agencies and library supporters may wish to participate in the subsequent Reply Comment phase. For further information, contact the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy, at 1-800-941-8478 or e-mail: oitp@alawash.org. ________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname]" to . ALAWON archives gopher.ala.org; select Washington Office Newsline. Web page HTTP://www.ala.org/alawashington.html. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Contributors:Claudette W. Tennant All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================