ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 71 October 1, 2004 In This Issue: Please Contact Your Senator Immediately And Ask Them To Support The E-rate ACTION NEEDED: On Tuesday, October 5, the Senate committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on problems in the E-rate program. It is vital that you contact your Senator and let him/her know of the good this program has done in America's libraries. The E-rate program has been a great success for America's libraries. In 1996, only 28% of public libraries offered free Internet access to patrons; today that number has increased to more than 95%. Many libraries - particularly rural and inner-city libraries - rely upon the E-rate to fund vital services that empower patrons, neighborhoods, and communities. The E-rate program is under attack in the legislature. Please help us protect this important program by telling your E-rate story and letting your elected officials know how much the E-rate means to your library! Share details of how E-rate has made a difference to your patrons, what the funding has enabled your library to do, et cetera. Use ALA's Washington Office Legislative Action Center at to identify and e-mail or FAX your Senators. If you like, you can also choose to send your message on the e-rate to your local newspapers through the legislative action center. It is important that we get the word out about how important the e-rate is to our libraries and communities. Please choose the option to send your messages to local media! You can also call your Member of Congress directly using the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: (202)224-3121. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Carol Ashworth, Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.