The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday clarified the rules of its $4.2 billion E-Rate program to ensure that libraries on tribal grounds are eligible for the program’s discounts on telecommunications technologies and broadband.
The rule change, approved unanimously by the FCC’s four members, dealt with the definition of “library” within the E-Rate program rules.
When the E-Rate program was established in 1997, the FCC borrowed some rules from the Library Services and Technology Act, stating that any library eligible for E-Rate funding had to also be eligible for assistance from a state-library administrative agency. Until 2018 — when the Library Services and Technology Act was updated to specifically include tribal libraries — that meant that some libraries in Indian Country were locked out of receiving E-Rate funding to help them connect to the internet.
