latest word from the FCC

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I just spoke to Jamie Rubin, who has been serving as the Federal
Communication Commission's coordinator for Universal Service issues
affecting schools and libraries.  There are, as we suspected, no
official application forms available at the present time.  Draft forms
have been circulated for final approval, and the forms themselves
should be available in no more than 3 weeks time.  Check the FCC Web
site

	http://www.fcc.gov

to get copies of these forms once they have been released.  Along
with the forms will come detailed rules for completing your
application.

In our conversation I raised some of the issues which have come
up in the Universal Service: Pennsylvania online seminar, 
particular the concern of rural librarians that the program
may be too administratively burdensome to make participation
worthwhile.  The response was that the program certainly aims not be to
burdensome and that applications from smaller groups should be
particularly simple to complete.  A suggested resource was the American
Library Association or similar trade groups.

While I don't want to downplay the fact that the lateness of official
word on details of the Universal Service discount program has made
it harder for schools and libraries to plan for their participation,
I think it's important to underscore the fact that we are dealing
with fairly responsive bureaucracies - at both the state and 
federal level.  Using the Internet, communities such as the one
formed by participants in the US:PA seminar can effectively
develop joint strategies and communicate these strategies to the
people who make the rules or run the programs which affect these
communities.  Where there are flaws in the design of the programs,
we can fix them; and where there are difficulties in the 
implementation of a program, we can create mechanisms which
make things run more smoothly.

The key to making this work is that members of the community should
speak up about their concerns.  If you simply wait upon the
agencies to promulgate rules, you run the risk that these rules
will be difficult to work with.  If you voice your concerns
earlier in the process, you can shape the rules so that they
make compliance easy.  In the context of this seminar, this
means that you should say what you are thinking.  Summaries of
the seminar will be used by the Pennsylvania Public Utility
Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Education to
shape future policy in this area.  So don't be shy in the
time remaining in the seminar.

Thanks,
Bob Carlitz

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