When he proposed his budget earlier this year, Gov. Jerry Brown said the state’s libraries should be allowed to connect to a faster Internet network that serves the education and research communities.
But many libraries simply cannot afford to make the needed infrastructure upgrades to take advantage of a proposed contract with the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California.
That’s the finding in a March report issued by the Legislative Analyst’s Office and highlighted again in a handout posted on the fiscal analyst’s website Wednesday.
Many libraries have "slow" Internet speeds (defined as being between 10 to 100 mbps) and more than half do not obtain federal and state Internet service discounts.
Brown has asked the Legislature to help libraries connect to the faster network by spending $2.25 million from the General Fund, $2.25 million from the California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) and $1 million in one-time funds for basic networking equipment.
The libraries would have to pay all other costs, including the cost of connections from the library branches to the CENIC backbone. The LAO found that libraries would need infrastructure upgrades that could total up to $85 million statewide.
Given that hurdle, it is questionable libraries could improve their Internet offerings. For example, schools that use CENIC have similar Internet speeds as those schools not connected to CENIC, according to the report.
Instead, the LAO recommended the state improve Internet service programs already available to libraries to improve the basic infrastructure.
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