Libraries Advance Digital Inclusion Role With Hotspots

Libraries are a lynchpin for national, state, and local digital inclusion efforts—particularly our 16,500+ public library locations across the country. Mobile Beacon’s report “Creating Opportunity Through Connectivity”, as well as research on rural library hotspot lending in “At the Edges of the National Digital Platform”, provide evidence of this critical library role and the need for affordable, mobile, and uncapped internet service to empower all people to fully participate in our digital world. [Larra Clark serves as Deputy Director for both the Public Library Association (PLA) and the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy.]