In the Spring of 2009 the State Library collaborated with the Information Institute at Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, to produce a comprehensive needs assessment of Florida public libraries for broad-band enabled library services.  The results of this assessment were used to produce the grant application sumitted to the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce.  The full needs assessment report is listed below.

Needs Assessment of Florida Public Library E-Government and Emergency/Disaster Management Broadband-Enabled Services.  (Sept. 14, 2009, PDF, 121 pages)

Listed below are links to abstracts of two concept papers that describe programs benefiting Florida residents that could potentially be funded through the ARRA legislation.   Both abstracts describe large-scale statewide projects (involving broadband) and are the result of research conducted by the Information Institute at Florida State University, discussions with the Florida Library Association Ad Hoc Committee for Stimulus Funding  with participation of the State Library and Archives of Florida.  They are posted here with the intent of inviting comment and discussion.   A full discussion of each of the abstracts is also available and may be obtained upon request from Mark Flynn, State Library and Archives of Florida,  email at mflynn@dos.state.fl.us.

• Florida Public Library E-Government and Disaster Preparedness and Response (PDF, 2 pages)

• Florida Community Based Health Information Networks (CBHIN) (PDF, 2 pages)