- Category 1 subsidizes broadband services TO your library. You can use this toward your current service or for upgrading to a higher capacity broadband connection.
- Category 2 subsidizes internet equipment and services INSIDE buildings, for example, access points, antennas, cabling, switches, routers. This is the equipment you need to improve internet speed and connectivity inside the library and for extending your library’s public WiFi service.
E-rate funding is based on a discount of the
services you’ve contracted for. The amount of discount is based on the
percentage of students in your school district receiving free/reduced rate
lunches. Discounts for rural libraries start at 25% and can be as high as 90%!
Your application begins with a competitive bidding process where you formally
request bids on the services & equipment you’d like to purchase. After 28
days you will conduct a bid evaluation to choose a vendor. You will then have
the total cost for your project that you will use to apply for E-rate funding.
The competitive bidding process for funding year 2021 opened July 1, 2020. Start
the bidding process NOW to give yourself plenty of time to meet deadlines.
This
webinar especially for South Dakota public libraries will show you how to get
started.
More library-specific E-rate information can be found on the
Internet for Libraries page of the SDSL Resources Guides.