1. Alaska’s Journey Towards Gigabit Libraries
AKla ANNUAL CONFERENCE, March 10, 2018
By Daniel Cornwall, Alaska State Library

2. Choosing Pilot Libraries
Worked from Internet 2/TGL grant criteria and added
Geographic diversity
Nome – only Northern community that was single branch
Libraries that had not received a recent site visit
Offered pilot visits to ten libraries, six took up our offer
The six were Craig, Hollis, Togiak, Aniak, Nome and Tok.

3. August 2017 Visits (Daniel and James)
Craig, Hollis, Togiak

4. Craig
Southeast Alaska
2017 Population: 1,089
3x3 Mbps for $3284/month
Hollis
Southeast Alaska
2017 Population: 128
1.5x1.5 Mbps for $1700/month
Togiak
Western Alaska
2017 Population: 870
1.5x1.5 Mbps for $3773/month

5. August Results
All libraries reported more comfort with broadband issues and working with equipment.
Craig
Identified need for additional bandwidth

6. August Results Hollis Identified wifi dead spots
Identified new ISP we could recommend to others

7. August Results
Togiak
Moving computers from wifi to wired improved speed – This needed site visit
Identified need for greater bandwidth based on 1:1 school laptop program

8. September 2017 Visits
Aniak, Nome and Tok

9. Aniak Nome Tok Southcentral Alaska 2017 Population: 498
1x1 Mbps for $3194/month
Nome
Northern Alaska (Only single branch)
2017 Population: 10,006
1.5x1.5 Mbps for $4263/month
Tok
Interior Alaska (Road System)
2017 Population: 1,223
5x1 Mbps for $1659/month

10. September Results
All libraries reported more comfort with broadband issues and working with equipment.
Aniak
Optimized one workstation to take advantage of limited bandwidth – this needed a site visit.
Identified possible ways to reduce wide wifi coverage

11. September Results Nome
They have city IT and seemed to have optimized their limited bandwidth as well as possible.

12. September Results Tok Identified need for greater bandwidth
Identified obsolete equipment doing nothing but drawing power – probably could not have been done remotely.
Librarian learned how to control wifi access through software instead of climbing on cabinet

13. Pilot Visit Takeaways Towards Gigabit Libraries Toolkit is valuable
Though ISP lookup not helpful in small communities
Bandwith estimator tools and broadband education portions VERY helpful

14. Pilot Visit Takeaways - Continued
Librarian knowledge of broadband improved
Toolkit appears to work best with site visits
Site visits also allowed us to identify need for wifi security training

15. Future Toolkit Plans
Publicize availability of toolkit widely several times a year
Brainstorm and evaluate ways to assist toolkit users remotely
Include link to Toolkit in “new library director orientation” LibGuide
Attempt to integrate at least part of toolkit into E-rate prep for libraries
Toolkit will be integrated into State Library site visits if toolkit review not done in past year

16. Contact Information
Daniel Cornwall Internet and Technology Consultant Alaska State Library