================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 41 ISSN 1069-7799 April 15, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (99 lines) WINDOW CLOSES FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE DISCOUNTS; APPLICATIONS STILL BEING ACCEPTED NEW STUDY SHOWS TREMENDOUS GROWTH IN USE OF LIBRARIES FOR INTERNET ACCESS _________________________________________________________________ WINDOW CLOSES FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE DISCOUNTS; APPLICATIONS STILL BEING ACCEPTED Tonight at midnight the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC) will close the 75 day window for applications for the universal service discount program. All libraries and schools which have submitted complete applications (including forms 470 and 471) by midnight will be treated with equal priority for the 1998 funding cycle. To date, the SLC has received more than 46,000 form 470s. However, unless all funds are committed to applicants who filed during the window period, the SLC will continue to accept applications from qualified libraries and schools wishing to get discounts on their telecommunications, Internet, and internal connections costs until either the end of the calendar year or when the funding for this year is committed, whichever comes first. The Federal Communications Commission has dedicated $625 million in funding for the first six months of 1998. The Commission is expected to rule in the next two months on the funding level for the remainder of the year. The SLC does not yet know the total amount of funding requested in the applications received during the window period. The next round of funding applications, to fund discounts for the 1999 calendar year, will start on July 1, 1998. The SLC will be begin accepting applications for 1999 on July 1; it is not yet clear whether there will be a window for applicants in July similar to the window which is closing today. Additional information on the application process is available from the SLC (http://www.slcfund.org) and from the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy (http://www.ala.org/oitp/getdisc.html). _________________________________________________________________ NEW STUDY SHOWS TREMENDOUS GROWTH IN USE OF LIBRARIES FOR INTERNET ACCESS The use of public libraries for Internet access has increased by more than 500 percent since 1996, according to the second annual MCI LibraryLINK study released today. The study also shows that public libraries are the most common "alternative" point for Internet access. According to the press release, the number of people who accessed the Internet from their public library increased 86 percent since January 1997. While home, work, and school remain the most common places for people to access the Internet, sixteen percent of the respondents in the MCI study had accessed the Internet through an "alternative" access point. Of that sixteen percent, almost half had used the public library as their "alternative" access point. By the year 2000, MCI's data suggests that number will nearly double. The MCI study was based on a random telephone survey of U.S. and Canadian residents, asking 3,241 Internet users where they log on to the Internet. More information on the MCI study is available at http://www.mci.com/news/news-news/top-headline-892649988.shtml. More information about the LibraryLINK program is available from the LibraryLINK at http://www.librarylink.com. _________________________________________________________________ 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 listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Aleck Johnson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================