[WEB4LIB] E-Rate Payments Delayed

[K.G. Schneider]

> Also note that the total amount of e-rate money has been reduced because
> the FCC put a cap on how much the phone companies must contribute. So
> phone companies win, and schools and libraries lose. Anyone know any
> teachers or librarians who made off with e-rate money and are living in
> luxury on an island somewhere?

No, but I know a lot of libraries that lost enormous amounts of time filling
out arcane paperwork for what was essentially a crap shoot for a
post-purchase discount, and I know a lot of libraries that compromised
longstanding values in order to comply with the federal guidelines because
they had adjusted their budget around expecting the money.  Money is hard to
refuse, especially in tough times. But everything has its price,
even--especially--money. And we as a profession went into the E-Rate program
unfamiliar with below-the-Beltway politics. 

The E-Rate program has been a target since day 1. We never had widespread
press support on this one; wired journalists such as Declan McCullough
labeled E-Rate as pork.  So now the New York Times and Salon discovered the
E-Rate? Alert the press! Oh wait--they are the press. Where the hell have
they been?

Plus the FCC kept it as difficult as possible, and--something a lot of y'all
may not realize--kept it as a discount service. I have to underscore that
three times, because it was never cash up front; you spent the money and
then hoped for the best, and I've seen libraries invest enormous amounts of
time into E-Rate and lose piles of money over a small typo, or after a
session with a splenetic auditor. 

Then E-Rate got tangled with CIPA.  And rather than get political, I'll get
metaphorical. England is well-known for its "saucy" postcards, and my
favorite postcard, picked up on a day trip to Southend on Sea one summer
long ago, showed a woman dressed in a Salvation Army uniform, holding a sign
that said, "Ladies! Is an hour of pleasure worth a lifetime of regret?" To
which a pretty young thing responds, "Cor, how do you make it last an hour?"

We had our hour with E-Rate; we may be better off if it just takes the money
off the dresser, and leaves.

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at bluehighways.com