Articles

ZANESVILLE - American Library Association president Julius Jefferson met with local elected officials and library staff on Tuesday, as part of a nationwide virtual tour of innovative libraries.

Jefferson met via Zoom with Muskingum County Library System interim director and fiscal officer Stacey Russell, Zanesville Mayor and library board member Don Mason, U.S. Representative Troy Balderson and State Senator Tim Shaffer, among others, to discuss the library systems high-speed internet access and Ohio's plans to expand rural broadband.

"The digital divide is real, and libraries like Muskingum County Libraries are lifelines," Jefferson told attendees.

Russell cited the twin challenges of both accessibility and affordability of high speed broadband in rural Appalachian Ohio, with an estimated 30% of Muskingum County residents with no internet access. Almost 78% are unable to access the internet regularly

The library system held 39,000 public computer access sessions in 2019, and more than 95,000 WiFi access sessions. The library system was on track to meet or exceed that number before the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, but still held 11,000 WiFi accesses during the shutdown

In 2018, the library system started pushing its WiFi signal into the parking lots and green spaces around their various branches. The WiFi is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Balderson who represents Ohio's 12 Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, said he is working on the KEEP Telehealth Options Act, which will help rural residents gain better access to online telehealth options. Balderson said some of the ways the legislation looks at improving telehealth is by improving local broadband access, including working with energy providers to use exist infrastructure.

"We are going to commit to doing this," Balderson said. "It is bipartisan and important."

Jaime Baker, representing Senator Rob Portman, said Portman had been working on the Rural Broadband Acceleration Act, which would help move federal funds into local broadband projects quicker. "It is an issue we hear about every day," Baker said.

Senator Tim Schaffer, who represents Ohio Senate District 20, including Muskingum County and parts of several others, said that Ohio House Bill 13 will help address the issue of rural broadband. The bill allocates $20 million for broadband access projects in fiscal year 2021. The bill seeks to create public-private partnership to help solve access problems, providing state money to utilities to encourage them to enter under-served markets.

Shaffer said the bill requires utilities to provide progress reports from providers to keep a committee at the Ohio Department of Commerce up to date on service, speeds and costs. 

"Until we can get broadband expanded, folks in our region just don't have the opportunities," Shaffer said.

Peter Voderberg, the chief of Broadband Ohio, which looks at ways to expand broadband access in the state, said "this pandemic has shown how severe the digital divide can be."

Voderberg says that Broadband Ohio wants to work with libraries to expand their efforts to serve digital customers.