By Scott Pohl, WKAR News
East Lansing, MI – East Lansing, MI (WKAR)
Michigan libraries need to upgrade their internet service if they want to better serve their clients. That was the message Wednesday at the Michigan Broadband Summit in East Lansing.
John Windhausen of Telepoly Consulting in Washington told library officials from across the state that cooperation between libraries could help them get money for broadband improvement projects: "Libraries could ideally get together in a consortium to apply for a large grant, that they could then use to build their own fiber networks to their libraries."
Windhausen says the federal stimulus package passed by congress includes more than $7-billion for library broadband improvements.
He says broadband access is important for libraries in rural areas, where service isn't available to homes and in urban areas, where service exists but is unaffordable for low-income families.