ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 1 January 5, 1999 In this issue: Wave 4 of Funding Commitment Decision Letters Released; Special Extra "Library Wave" Planned for Early January Note: The following is a January 4 E-rate Newsflash from the Schools and Libraries Corporation. For more information go to http://www.slcfund.org or call 1-888-203-8100. On December 31, the Schools and Libraries Corporation issued its fourth wave of funding commitment letters to applicants for E-rate discounts for the 1998 program year. More than 1,080 letters are included in this wave, totaling $33.4 million. A state-by-state list of recipients of this wave will be posted by January 5 on the SLC Web site, www.slcfund.org. Special Measures for Libraries Although the percentage of libraries represented among funding commitment recipients increased from 7% in Wave 3 to 13% in Wave 4 (compared to the total of just under 17% of estimated overall applications from libraries for 1998), the SLC has decided to move more aggressively to increase the pace of funding commitments to library applicants. In early January, we will be issuing a special, extra "all-library" wave of funding commitment letters intended to bring both the number of commitments and the dollar share for libraries into line with their representation among all 1998 E-rate applicants. Internal Connections Threshold Applied Wave 4 is the first wave in which the SLC implemented its recently announced threshold for internal connections requests. Beginning with this wave, applicants with internal connections requests below the 50% discount level will be notified in their funding commitment decisions letters that these requests are unfunded due to lack of funds. The SLC will continue to commit funds for internal connections requests at the 90% discount level, and will determine in future waves if funds will be available for internal connections at discounts between 50% and 89%. All approved requests for telecommunications services and Internet access received within the 1998 application window will be funded, regardless of discount level. Wave 5 of funding commitment letters (not counting the special "library wave" described above) is expected to be issued in mid-January. Merger with USAC Effective January 1 In addition to moving ahead with the funding commitment wave schedule and processing applications for 1999-2000, the SLC has completed its planned merger -- along with the Rural Health Care Corporation -- into the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) as ordered by the Federal Communications Commission. The merger, which was official January 1, 1999, will not interrupt the E-rate application or funding commitment process. Together with all our colleagues at USAC, we look forward to serving you in 1999. ****** 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 or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. 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. Editor: Lynne E. Bradley; Managing Editor: Deirdre Herman; Contributors: Phyllis Albritton, Mary Costabile, Adam Eisgrau, Carol Henderson, Peter Kaplan, Claudette Tennant and Rick Weingarten.