What One Library Is Doing With Federal Broadband Funding

To provide schools and libraries with the digital services they need to expand remote learning, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has created the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF). To date, the ECF has doled out $7.171 billion. What libraries and schools are doing with the money will inherently vary depending on their individual needs. One library in Chicago Ridge, IL, however, recently detailed what it has done with its ECF money. The library is using our ECF funds to get both Chromebooks and laptops into the hands of the library's patrons, along with Wi-Fi hot spots. The idea is that patrons could use these hot spots and laptops to access the Internet outside of the library, as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need.