Title
Library Department recommending the Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign retroactive Amendment IV to perpetual Agreement 6735 with Imperial County Office of Education, the Broadband Services Project Broadband Access Aggregator for the Statewide Library Broadband Access project, to renew router hardware and perform router maintenance, maintaining E-rate eligibility and for the reimbursement of circuit costs, with an estimated annual cost with taxes of $74,851 ($34,858 after estimated E-rate discounts) effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2031.
FUNDING: General Fund.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
In 2014, the California State Legislature approved funding for a three-year project to connect California public libraries to the California Research and Education Network, CalREN. CalREN is a high-capacity fiber optic network operated by the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC). CalREN has over 20 million users, including the majority of K-12 schools, community colleges, and California universities. In addition to connecting libraries to CalREN, the State Legislature also approved $4 million for grants to purchase equipment needed for important upgrades to library infrastructure. Working with CENIC and Califa (a library non-profit), the El Dorado County Library had the opportunity to upgrade and become a key resource for researchers, businesspeople, students, and entrepreneurs.
CENIC benefits its partners because of its bargaining power across the state. It is able to negotiate favorable contracts with Internet Service Providers as well as hardware providers. CENIC also benefits the County through its ability to file for federal E-rate discounts for libraries as a California Library Consortium. All libraries are currently receiving these discounts without having to go through the complicated process of filing themselves. E-rate discounts significantly reduce the cost of providing internet service to libraries across the...
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