The take-aways I have been mulling over:
- Government is slow. Even if hardworking, well-meaning library advocates are trying to obtain funding for us, there is no guarantee we will ever get federal funding for the digital literacy work we do.
- Why don’t people (government, educators, the public) already know that libraries are at the forefront of digital literacy training?
I applaud ALA and their efforts to obtain recognition and
funding for libraries in this arena, and I encourage them to press forward. But
there are thousands of librarians in the trenches like me who need to devise
our own tactics in the meantime. I would love to see more state level work like
what’s going on in New Mexico.
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| "connecting you to a world of opportunities" http://fastforwardnm.org |
The Fast Forward New Mexico initiative is fascinating to me.
Their state library is using federal money in a three year project “to bring
free Internet training, information, and awareness to the state’s residents.” (And
they have some corporate sponsors too.) Additionally, they are making an effort
to show small businesses and entrepreneurs how this information is relevant to
the success of their business. I looked over the NM courseware, and they aren’t
teaching anything earth shattering. What makes this unique in my opinion is the
marketing. Even if we simply promote what we are already doing in a unified
marketing campaign with the “digital literacy” brand, maybe we can make some
headway with funders and decision makers.
But I want more money too, not just recognition. I can see
the incredible impact of what we teach, and it makes me crazy we don’t have
more resources. We need more trainers, equipment, promotional tools, etc. The
diversity of training requests keep streaming in, and we have to triage.
So we can’t sit around and wait for FCC money to roll in. We
(I am talking to myself too) need to be more proactive about finding
alternative funding sources. If that means corporate funding, so be it. But we
need to pursue everything – consortiums of training corps, corporate
sponsorship, local government funding, foundation grants, and combinations.
Technology is running, and we’re walking. The gap is getting
bigger.
