NTIA has announced the second round of funding for broadband stimulus grants, including grants to support public computing in libraries.

Two collaborative grants are being prepared for any of Ohio’s public libraries to participate in:

As part of a process to prepare a statewide application to obtain federal stimulus funding that would benefit Ohio public libraries, Connect Ohio is conducting surveys to gather additional data about the public computers in libraries and how they are used. Connect Ohio Executive Director Tom Fritz has recorded a 40-minute presentation that provides some background information and details the data gathering and grant process. You can access the audio and the slides at http://www.swonlibraries.org/connectohio.

The winter edition of the OPLIN CIRCUIT is now available.

What's inside?
Info on the new statewide broadband contract, open source in the OPLIN office and more!

For those who are pursuing federal stimulus funds for broadband expansion—particularly for expanding public computing centers—the General Accounting Office (GAO) has released a Report to Congressional Committees, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d1080.pdf, that provides an interesting assessment of the performance of NTIA and RUS in administering the broadband program so far.