For immediate release:
July 16, 2010
For more information, contact:
Brandon Butler
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
brandon@arl.org
Washington DC – The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) joined the American Library Association (ALA) and EDUCAUSE in voicing support for the FCC’s Notice of Inquiry (NOI) proposing a “third way” forward on the difficult question of regulatory authority over broadband Internet access service.
Libraries, librarians, higher education and research networks, and their users all rely on a fast, reliable, and open Internet, and the associations urged the FCC to act quickly and responsibly to re-establish its authority over broadband access so that it can return to its vital role in encouraging broadband rollout and adoption and protecting the openness of the Internet.
Broadband policies affect libraries, researchers, and higher education institutions in at least two ways: both as users of broadband services and as providers of Internet-based content. High-capacity broadband is the key infrastructure that libraries, community colleges, colleges, universities, and many others depend upon to provide 21 century research and educational services, job-training courses, distance learning classes, access to e-government, and computer and technology training. Of the options outlined in the FCC’s notice, the Third Way proposal is the only realistic way to protect the open Internet and to achieve the goals of the National Broadband Plan.
To view the comments, please visit http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/third-way-comments_071510.pdf.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 125 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.