3.21 EveryoneOn and Connect2Compete

http://www.everyoneon.org/ and http://www.connect2compete.org/

Someone asked the other day what all the fuss is about. Do libraries really need to pay attention to this national campaign? At this point we don’t know if the campaign will create a ripple or a splash, or if it will gain a huge amount of momentum over the three years of the campaign.

What we do know is that it allows another layer of society to have access to technology and Internet services at modest prices. For those most poverty stricken, the available technology and access to Internet will still be out of their reach. In this sense, and in either case, libraries will still be a critical piece of bridging the digital divide.

What we also know is that the campaign directs people to their local library, Goodwill, and other digital literacy training providers. From the EveryoneOn website, people will be able to access a search box which will return a list of libraries and other providers within a certain distance from the city and state, or zip code that is entered. For public libraries, at a minimum, their location and contact information will be provided. Libraries also have the opportunity, at the branch level, to enter information about the services they provide at each location.

My guess is that with the number of national organizations behind this effort, awareness of the campaign will not be an issue. Some four billion dollars of direct contributions and in-kind funding are being directed to this effort. Intel, Best Buy, Citi Group, Morgan Stanley, Four H, Boys and Girls Club, IMLS, United Way, TechSoup, National Urban League, Microsoft, ALA, Goodwill, Cox, Time Warner, Cablevision, Brainfuse, CareerBuilder, Learning Express, Sesame Street, and a host of others have signed on.

I would suspect libraries will be contacted whether or not they post more information to the EveryoneOn site. March 21, 2013 is the national kickoff to this three year campaign. Library staff should be prepared to be contacted by the ones and twos, the tens, the hundreds, and for the largest library locations perhaps the thousands, all of whom will want to know more about the services and the trainings their local library provides.

Jeff Martin, Library Development Program Manager, Washington State Library