Diann Roper

Name: Diann Roper
E-mail: dee@iu27.bviu.k12.pa.us
Organization: Beaver County Library System
City and State: Monaca, PA
Date: Sep. 30 - 11:39 AM
Submitted from: 205.199.57.115 <205.199.57.115>

1. Has your school, school district or library developed a technology plan?

yes

2. If your school, school district or library has developed a technology plan, has it been reviewed with an eye toward its use as part of a Universal Service discount application?

no

3. Has your school, school district or library conducted a technology inventory?

yes

4. Has your school, school district or library joined a consortium to seek telecommunications services at prices below standard tariffed rates?

no

5. If your organization is part of a consortium, what groups are included in the consortium?

libraries

6. Where does your school, school district or library go for technical advice in the implementation of its networking plans?

in-house expertise

consultant

7. Please list any other comments you have with respect to preparations for the Universal Service discount program.

We are currently attempting to implement an automation system for the 10 libraries and 1 bookmobile in our system. This automation system will run on a MAN and allow all the system members to use e-mail as well as check out/in books, consult the "card" catalog, register new library card holders and eventually access the Internet. All of our technology inventory and plans are in the documentation prepared by a consultant for this automation system. We have not addressed the telecommunication rates for several reasons. The most important being that we have not reached the point in our automation system where we know what type of telecommunications service we will be using and probably won't until the end of this year. The second is that we have a diverse population and some of our libraries are in areas where they would get very large discounts and others would get the minimum (I submitted an FAQ on this point but it was not posted) and I am not sure how to handle the applications and no one I have asked has been able to give me an answer. We would like to be able to take advantage of the discounts but I am afraid we will not be in a position to apply by January and will miss out in 1998.