Divide and Conquer: Dauphin County and state officials are ready to build bridges across the digital divide

It’s a beautiful concept: Public libraries are designed to provide all residents with equal opportunities to information.

“Libraries are supposed to be equalizers—print materials did that for a long time,” said Karen Cullings, executive director of the Dauphin County Library System (DCLS). “Now, it’s not just the information itself. It’s how that information is accessed.”

Internet Injustice

Amid COVID-19, the eight libraries that comprise DCLS are connection points for many residents, especially those who need computer access. Applications for rent relief and other pandemic aid programs, vaccine appointments, unemployment claims and job searches are all online.

In Dauphin County, 83% of all households have internet access. That leaves 17%—or nearly 19,000 households—disconnected. But the problem goes even deeper.

“When we start talking about the digital divide, it’s not just an access program—it’s a skills gap, too,” Cullings said. “People coming in for help already have other struggles in their lives—it’s frustrating for them and sometimes demoralizing. They’re already behind a curve.”

Library staff have become increasingly technology-proficient—showing visitors how to navigate relief programs and schedule vaccine appointments, helping students without highspeed broadband at home to log onto library Wi-Fi, and assisting patrons without email addresses in setting up email accounts.

“Lot of times, we look at disadvantages as a racial or socioeconomic gap, but, in my experience, it’s also often an age or generation gap,” Cullings said. “Our population is aging, and some of our older citizens are really struggling with that skills gap. If they didn’t grow up with a mouse in their hand, it can be a tough transition.”

Costly Connections

The library system’s annual budget of $7.5 million includes $1.2 million for internet and technology costs. About $150,000 is provided by the federal E-Rate program, which helps schools and libraries with internet costs, based upon poverty levels. And during the pandemic, E-Rate guidelines were relaxed, allowing libraries to push Wi-Fi signals beyond their walls and into neighborhoods, to increase internet access.

“Broadband is expensive,” said George Hartwick, Dauphin County commissioner. “This ties into a national discussion on broadband and access to the underserved community. And now we have the opportunity to pull significant resources in, with the American Rescue Plan.”

Thanks to that plan—a COVID-19 stimulus plan recently passed by Congress—Hartwick and county officials hope to partner with Rush, Jackson and Jefferson townships, where the county’s greatest need for broadband exists, and hire a consultant to maximize the impact of federal funding.

“If we leverage those dollars to address this in a holistic way, we have a real possibility to put a real bridge to the gap that exists,” Hartwick said. “I don’t remember a time when we’ve had the resources to address this in such a dire way.”

Hartwick serves on the broadband task force for the National Association of Counties’ board of directors. And you can tell he’s passionate about the issue.

“No one should be limited by geography, income, race or the community you live in, to be able to achieve access to the information that’s critical for sustainability and upward mobility,” he said. “We have an obligation from the public perspective to give folks an equal opportunity to succeed. If you have the ability to access things, it’s only a click away—and providing that access in this country, in this day and age, is critically important.”

To his knowledge, information redlining—discriminatory access to internet by providers—is not a factor.

“If there is information redlining going on, I want people to contact me immediately,” he said. “I assure you, disenfranchising information from individuals based on income will not happen.”

Internet Implications

Dauphin County is a microcosm of the range of circumstances faced by Pennsylvania’s 600 library systems. It’s a county library system with a large urban center, surrounded by suburbs and a rural zone—northern Dauphin County—with spotty internet.

“There is an overwhelming need to address this digital divide as aggressively and cost effectively as we can,” said Glenn Miller, deputy secretary and commissioner for libraries under the Pennsylvania Department of Education. “We know the economy functions with the internet as the backbone—job applications are online and a whole range of other services.”

He likens today’s digital divide to the post-Depression era’s drive for rural electrification, in which public demand played a role.

“The public needs to come in and say this is a central right,” Miller said. “Broadband is an essential for functioning in this economy.”

It’s a role that Cullings feels compelled to fill on behalf of library patrons she sees and serves every day.

She cites a report by Tracie Hall, executive director of the American Libraries Association, which states that “76% of the nation’s Black residents and 62% of Latinx residents are slated to be shut out of or underprepared for 86% of U.S. jobs by 2045” due to a “racial tech gap” that puts them “a decade behind white households in broadband access” and on the verge of an “unemployment abyss.”

The digital divide existed prior to the COVID-19 crisis, but the pandemic and its patchwork of online programs exposed the divide along a variety of fracture lines. Now, public libraries and public officials are stepping into the divide to champion the cause.

“It means we’re going to have to look at how we’re providing services and what we can do to be part of the solution to social justice issues,” Cullings said. “And making sure we’re providing equal access.”

For more information on the Dauphin County Library System, see dcls.org.

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The Digital Divide Across South Central PA

Source: Pennsylvania’s County Profiles, 2018