ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 21 March 4, 1999 In this issue: Year One Final E-rate Commitment Totals $1.66 Billion; Year Two Recommended Filing Deadline for Form 470 Is March 5 On March 1 the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) announced Wave 10, the final wave of E-rate funding commitment decisions for the 1998 program year. A total of $1.66 billion in 1998 funding commitments went to 25,785 applicants. The total commitment specifically to libraries was boosted to $65 million by the additional $9.9 million provided in the final wave. In all, 4,657 library and library consortium applicants received almost four percent of the total dollars committed in Year One. Libraries may also have benefited from consortia comprised of both schools and libraries. "A new era in the Information Age has begun," K.G. Ouye, city librarian at the San Mateo (Calif.) Public Library and chair of USAC's Schools and Libraries Committee said in a statement. "Millions of students and library patrons will soon be just a mouse-click away from the world of information and ideas that the Internet brings, bridging the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor. Universal access to the Internet is the key to a bright new century of opportunity for our children and future generations." None of the applications received by the SLD outside of the 75-day window were funded. This underscores the need to apply for Year Two funding by the application window deadline. To qualify as "in the window," applicants must fully complete and file both Forms 470 and 471 between December 1, 1998 and April 6, 1999. The recommended last day that a Form 470 should be posted to provide for the subsequent 28-day period and the possibility of successfully filing a Form 471 within the window is March 5, 1999. The SLD has posted a state by state compilation of funding commitments as well as additional statistics on how applications and funding in year one break down at http://www.slcfund.org/Reference/1998/national.asp. For more information about the E-rate program, the funding commitment process or appeals, see the SLD's Web site at http://www.slcfund.org. ****** 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.