[Michlib-l] Linda Lord speaks up for libraries and E-rate

[Mase, Sheryl (MDE)]

All,

If you are interested in following the FCC and any potential changes to E-rate, you may be interested to hear this wonderful testimony by Linda Lord of Maine.  She did us proud!

From: Marijke Visser [mailto:mvisser at alawash.org]
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 5:16 PM
To: ertf at ala.org; state-erate at ala.org
Subject: [state-erate] RE: a day in the life of Linda Lord

And here's a link to Linda's testimony http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kTwNDjaadU&feature=youtu.be

And a link to a post on the District Dispatch

http://www.districtdispatch.org/2013/07/maine-state-librarian-touts-e-rate-successes-at-congressional-hearing/

In case you missed these.

From: Marijke Visser [mailto:mvisser at alawash.org]
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 1:16 PM
To: ertf at ala.org; state-erate at ala.org
Subject: [ertf] a day in the life of Linda Lord

Hello everyone,

Quick disclaimer that Linda does not know I am writing this up (though I hope she approves!)

As many of you have been commenting, the culmination of some intense work arrived yesterday with the Commerce Committee hearing. A big think you to all of you who provided stories and examples of E-rate in your states. Even if they were not specifically cited, this information firmed up Linda's confidence that she could speak on behalf of libraries in other states. When we say we know these things happen in libraries across the country we are speaking accurately.

As you also know this hearing was called just a week ago (really? Is that all?) and so the preparation for the testimony had to happen quickly and efficiently (librarians know all about being efficient) so that we pulled together the few most important messages for Linda to have at her fingertips. We also wanted her to be prepared for some hard questions that might come from the Committee members- and we saw that there were some. Of course Commissioner Pai's speech the previous day added some specific fodder for some of the program detractors.

After working much of last week (and a lot of the weekend) on the written testimony from Maine while we worked on it in DC, Linda left her home at some terribly early hour to make it to our office early enough to revise a draft of her oral testimony and to whittle it down to her allotted 5 minutes. It's amazing how long it takes to make something short (thank you Mark Twain). Not wanting to waste an opportunity to make the case for E-rate with the Maine Delegation, Linda also squeezed in a visit with one of her Congressmen.

Oh, and did I mention she was invited to meet with FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel and the staff person for Commissioner Pai? Both of these meetings went well and Linda left them with some examples of the bandwidth intensive services Maine libraries are providing as well as some of the challenges still there. The Commissioners are both interested in understanding more about how libraries use E-rate to support students, but also what high bandwidth services they provide. As we heard in the hearing yesterday , though from the Committee, there is considerable interest in making sure the program runs efficiently and maximizes current dollars.

Linda's charm and easy manner were quite effective throughout the visits and certainly in the hearing. But be careful, there's a lot of "punch" behind that winning smile. Linda is like a mother black bear with the E-rate program and as we saw yesterday does not hesitate to step up and shove her way in when it comes to speaking up for library needs.

Today Linda is wrapping up her DC tour visiting the two Senators and the other Congressman with Jeff Kratz on the OGR side of our office.

We in DC are very thankful to have Linda working for us (well I'm pretty sure some of the time she must have felt that way!).

Linda is heading home and we'll be heading to the FCC tomorrow for the Commission meeting on the NPRM. We plan a statement for tomorrow.

Stay tuned,

Marijke

###

A few additional news stories

Linda was quoted in Communications Daily

"Linda Lord, Maine state librarian, said

lawmakers "simply can't allow inadequate bandwidth to be the factor that limits
what our students and our nation can achieve."

Broadcasting & Cable
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/494540-Dems_Hearing_Witnesses_Say_E_Rate_Remains_Critical_Investment.php

Ed Week
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2013/07/fcc_commissioner_calls_for_sim.html

The Hill
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/311841-overnight-tech-markey-champions-e-rate-in-first-senate-hearing



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail3.mcls.org/pipermail/michlib-l/attachments/20130723/0f939754/attachment.html>