CENIC 2019: Plenary Panel - Reimagining Public Libraries as Platforms for Learning & Tech(3/19/2019)

Speakers: Amy Garmer, John Horrigan, Sara Jones, and Jarrid Keller

California public libraries can be important platforms for innovation and entrepreneurial activity in their communities and they are well positioned to expand and democratize learning opportunities at critical junctures along the lifelong learning pipeline. As the new kids on the CENIC block, public libraries are exploring ways to leverage the insights, experimentation, and innovations of other institutions on the network and to harness their CENIC connectivity in new ways. In December 2018, the Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries convened a roundtable to accelerate the development and uptake of innovative applications for gigabit connectivity in California public libraries with a focus on priorities in education, workforce development, equity, and civic participation. Research for a conference white paper on California public libraries’ use of CalREN identified an impediment to public libraries developing more programmatic uses of the network, a “broadband-imagination gap that is explained this way: the library field is eager to embrace the future, but how to do so is not always easy to discern. This session will present the findings detailed in the white paper and highlight the insights and recommendations of the conference, “Beyond Connectivity: Gigabit Network Use in California Public Libraries.” Attendees will learn about recent innovations in public library use of CENIC bandwidth, factors beyond better bandwidth that allow libraries and communities to take advantage of CENIC’s gigabit connectivity, challenges of adopting innovations in broadband use and recommendations for pushing past obstacles. Following this presentation, a moderated panel of experts and practitioners will discuss new policies, partnerships, and mechanisms for closing the “broadband-imagination gap” in the use of CENIC by public libraries across the state. In a Q&A format with the audience, panelists will address how the activities and partnerships sparked by the Beyond Connectivity conference are evolving to redefine the unique role that public libraries can play as partners in the CENIC network, and how audience members from the broader CENIC community can get involved in creating a set of common blueprints to accelerate progress.