Libraries as a Lifeline: Expanding Access to Technology and Digital Literacy

Growing up outside a small country town, my summers revolved around my hometown library. The competition to read the most books before school rolled around motivated me as much as figuring out the clues in each mystery book I devoured.

Long before the internet became a major source for information, communities turned to public libraries to seek out answers and bring new ideas to the masses. Libraries serve as a community hub for neighborhoods across the country and remain one of the few free and open public spaces for broad and diverse populations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the need for educational resources, libraries expanded access to online and virtual services, including maintaining public Wi-Fi availability when buildings were closed to the public and checking out devices to support hotspots.

For the millions of individuals impacted by the digital divide, these amenities are a lifeline to the everyday online activities most of us take for granted, like online banking, job searching and completing an education.

Today we announced $6 million in contributions to help narrow the digital divide through digital literacy initiatives nationwide. As part of this initiative, we are collaborating with the Public Library Association (PLA) to bring bilingual digital literacy workshops to more than 160 libraries across the country. Our AT&T Connected Learning collaborators, Digitunity and Connected Nation , also will be hosting hundreds of workshops, leveraging course content we created in collaboration with the PLA. The content, which ranges from technology basics to how to avoid online scams, will be taught through in-person workshops, but is also available to anyone through AT&T ScreenReady? and PLA Digital Learn .

Although the availability and affordability of high-speed internet access is growing rapidly, there still are millions of families without access. Libraries are one of the few community places where residents can connect to high-speed internet, and they are critical to helping people build skills and confidence to navigate the web safely and effectively.

As I’ve said before, it takes a collective response to narrow the digital divide. As we expand our Connected Learning Center footprint to more community centers, our collaboration with the PLA and other organizations offers an additional touchpoint for reaching more people in need.