And welcome our presenters for today.

I'm thrilled to welcome Stephanie Stenberg and cb, Stephanie is the director of the Community Anchor Program at Internet2, and cb is the library technology -- Carson Block, they're both doing amazing work in this area and we're so thrilled to have you here for today's session.

Welcome.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Welcome to everyone tuning in.

We just want to say thank you to Jennifer and to everyone at WebJunction, this is such an amazing production, it's so professional, and we're just really happy to be a part of it.

So we'll started.

My name is Stephanie Stenberg, as she said, I'm the director of the Community Anchor Program at internet two. I've been working with online education and libraries for many years, and I am so excited to have Carson  Block as my codirector.

Take it away.

>> CARSON BLOCK: I'm Carson  Block, it's so great to work with Stephanie.

We've been doing so many of these, sometimes it feels like it's all we do, but we do much more than just telling people about this wonderful program.

And -- but I've been working in library tech since the web was just a baby, just getting  started in libraries, so 25, 26 years now.

And also I've been an independent consultant for a decade.

Which is also I wonder, how did that happen?

And -- but my job here is to help empower you and to help you server patrons.

And that's what Stephanie and I and our full team do together through this toolkit.

That's at the core.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Speaking of our full team, we work with Bonnie Nichols and Terese, the program manager of the Internet2 program.

She is in the chat and can help with resources if you say I'm having this problem with I.T., she might be able to pop in and say check this page in the toolkit, that's where you'll find your answer.

So thanks for joining us.

We also wanted to say thank you to James Neil, the senior program manager officer at IMLS, who is an integral part of our project.

So this is the Gigabit Libraries Toolkit.

You should have a link to it from the program web page.

We will tell you, it is a totally amazing printable toolkit, it's made to be  low-tech.

You can print it out, walk around your library with it, and what's great is that it's currently in a Word document, Google document, so you can remix it.

If you only want to do a couple sections, do that.

If you want to add something to customize it for libraries you work with, do that.

We really are, it's creative common license, go with it.

>> CARSON BLOCK: You can grab it and put it in your own trainings if you'd like to do that.

We are so thankful for the institute of miew expeem library services for the two grants that they've given us to do this.

The first grant was in 2015, I'm sorry, my eyes are so bad.

In 2015.

And this was a pilot grant to see if we could make this work.

It was a two-year grant developed -- to develop training curriculum and self-assessment material, which is the toolkit.
; for broadband infrastructure.

We were targeting very rural and tribal libraries in the U.S., because we knew that was where the great need is.

Our partners included state library organizations, offices, and research and education networks across the country.

So with WebJunction, everyone's familiar with a library, state library organization, what you may not be familiar with are the R and E next, the rural and education next that sometimes serve libraries in some states.

Often they serve the K-12 schools, higher education, things like that.

Our initial goal was to pilot the toolkit in 30 libraries, and we did better than that.

We're so thankful, we were able to get up to 60 libraries in the first grant.

And it was so valuable to learn about what was needed.

Based on the results that we  had, in 2020, I am -- IMLS  awarded us a second grand, called the Gigabit Libraries and Beyond.

This is to improve upon the toolkit, and expand its reach everywhere we can in the United States.

Now, in addition to focusing on rural and tribal libraries, those are still extremely important, we're also expanding the toolkit's audience to include something interesting, maybe not everyone thinks about this, but we have these areas that are considered urban that also have the need for the material in the toolkit.

So we are doing that as well.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Yes.

It is very exciting.

We're going to give you a little bit of a toolkit overview today.

Now, you do have a link to download truly an exclusive first-time-ever available, what we're calling Version 1.5 of the Gigabit Libraries Toolkit.

So I'm telling you that the first toolkit was 61 pages long, now it's 118 pages long.

We're going to be working on through formatting and different things before 2.0 comes out, but I want to tell you how much extra updated information you're going to be getting with downloading this.

And it truly is exclusive  fist-time-only, so if you do anything today, click on that link to check out the toolkit, let us know what you think, let us know if something works or doesn't work.

We also have a link, we're not showing it today because of bandwidth issues, but there is a fun short YouTube video that really gives you a great overview of the toolkit.

If you are telling people about this, please send them that  link, it's a couple minutes  long, it gives you a fantastic overview.

Narrated by Carson, so you get to hear his wonderful voice again, and it's just really fun, a great way to just learn about the toolkit really quickly.

>> CARSON BLOCK: When Stephanie said this is the first-ever premier, that is not hyperbole.

That is the real deal.

We did not anticipate -- because the first toolkit was working pretty good.

We did not anticipate the number of updates that we would have the opportunity to make it better.

So it has been released as of right now.

So get it while it's hot, you can say "I was the first to download it."

We want to tell you -- oh, Carson, you're going on and on about how great it is, what is the toolkit, Stephanie?

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: I will tell you.

It is three different things.

It is an educational workbook.

As you can see, thanks for posting that link in the chat, we should roll out the red carpet for this.

It's an educational workbook.

Not just fill in the blank.

It is something truly you work through, you get the resources you need to answer the questions it's asking you.

So it truly, it does the thinking for you, I like to say, anybody can pick it up.

It's also a self-assessment  tool.

So if you are building out the picture of your I.T. infrastructure and broadband capabilities, it's helping you do that step by step.

So it's not ore welling, we are really taking it one building block at a time.

And lastly, this is something I think we've worked on in this version 1.5 as well, it's an advocacy platform.

So it gives you the information and tools you need to enact change.

And we actually put in a whole new section on building your support network and advocacy.

So it's really wonderful.

>> CARSON BLOCK: Because the more you know, the more you  know, the more you can get done for your community.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: I know.

Then the tool kit components, this is the heart and soul of the project.

And it's not an exhaustive re-- it's really at the layperson level.

So if you look at these different sections of the toolkit, this was developed because we went to a pilot site, they did the intake survey, they went out and did a visit for it.

And then you end up working on what's called a broadband improvement plan.

And we will talk about that.

But it was really just a big cycle of getting feedback and iterating on the toolkit as they went along.

And really the hope is that the toolkit is not just a standalone document you can use to learn more about your -- that it's a standalone document that you don't really need a technical person to come in and work with you to do it.

You can just pick it up and start working with it.

It has all the tools you need right there.

>> CARSON BLOCK: That's right.

And you may have a very good question.

You might say, I'm a nontechnical person and I don't believe this is possible.

And we understand that, and in fact that is the very essence of a question that even as we're doing the toolkit updates that we wrestle with, because we want it to be as accessible to a layperson as possible, so check this out.

And we know this works.

The toolkit approach is meant for your success.

So there is a series of questions throughout these Kincade Fire sections.

A series of questions throughout different sections on different topics.

Each of these questions has a resource right next to it to help you answer the question.

Because no two libraries are alike.

There's even when they're very similar, there's still nuances and differences.

So it's important that you understand your situation and so this is how we have constructed the toolkit.

One of the things we learned during the first grant is if you are nontechnical, just looking at the size of the toolkit might have been a little intimidating.

But we knew once you cracked open the toolkit, you discover it's not.

In fact, it's very helpful at all levels.

And this approach is really inviting, and it really works.

So if you're thinking, that's a lot of new geeky content, we want to assure you that this content is something that will be very useful to you, and understandable.

The toolkit as Stephanie was saying, it's free, it's open source, we've licensed it so that people can take the ball and run with it, and they have.

Which is what we want.

And there's many ways to use this.

You can use this to record a snapshot of your I.T. and broadband infrastructure.

Because we have to inventory things first before we can make improvements.

The we have to know what we  have, right?

Prepare for e-rate requests and other budget cycles.

We've been having one or two or three or four different funding opportunities lately because of stimulus money and different funding sources.

And so this has been especially helpful for a lot of folks in kind of understanding what they might need and how to apply those funds effectively.

It does something else that's powerful, and that's opening communication between library staff and tech workers that you might have.

Whether they're folks that are on staff, whether you have an I.T. department, or whether it's just volunteers helping you out.

It helps create common vocabulary so you can talk about things together.

It addresses of course specific things in your library, all you got to do is complete a section and it gives you this really cool assessment.

And it gives you a baseline for proposed I.T. and broadband improvements.

And the best part, what's the best part, Stephanie?

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: I will say it is no techies required.

So truly, you can just walk in, I barely know how to turn on a computer, I can print -- as long as you can print it or look at it online, you can do the toolkit.

>> CARSON BLOCK: Prienting, you might say it's a tech toolkit.

Printing allows you to walk around, find things, mark things down and make notes.

So in this case we actually encourage a print version, because you will use it and dog ear it and refer back to at this time over and over.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Yes.

And you actually are physically walking into where the internet comes into your building.

So definitely having it portable is a wonderful thing.

So what we're going to do is walk you through some of our toolkits sections to get you familiar with the different things, if there are questions you have that come up, Treece is able to answer those in the  chat, we'll keep an eye on it and WJ Support will help us check the questions as well.

The first up is the technology inventory.

If we have to figure out what's going on in our library, let's start with actually the key pieces of technology in your library.

So it's not just the computers.

It is the broadband connection that's coming into your library.

It's the network devices, it's what your modem, what's your router, let's figure out what that looks like, let's write down what the brand name is, what is your speed like?

What is your wireless network look like?

Do you have one?

So there's a lot of different things it walks you through, it tells you exactly what you need to know to get the information that's going to help you put your broadband improvement plan together, and figure out how you can improve upon what you already have, maybe.

So there's even spaces, put your internet connections download and upload speed, and we walk you through how to do that.

And we're going to figure things out like what's our broadband connection's latency, which is a fancy word for delay, jitter, which is network congestion.

These are all outlined and there's a big glossary that truly we have doubled since last time.

It is really great.

So you're able to do all of those different things.

>> CARSON BLOCK: And Jennifer is not just -- jitter is not just having too much of this.

Broadband services and activities is another section of the tool kit.

And it helps think through, why do we have internet?

We take it for granted we need good broadband access, but the purpose of this section is to really think through and walk through.

Because I think as you would talk to your colleagues, for instance, across your region, or even across the country, you're going to find that you have a lot of things in common, but you also might have some things that are very unique to your very specific and unique, that's the best way to say that, to your situation.

And this helps you kind of think through that.

And to have some examples, like how important is distance learning, for instance, at your library?

Virtual field trips and events.

Online training for jobs or even job access.

Things like maker spaces that require bandwidth, and we're all doing this thing right now.

COVID has taught us that we're also broadcasters and sharing video as Will.

This helps think through that and have a solid picture exactly what you're doing with your broadband connection.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: And the next section is broadband technical operational support.

So here it is, how are we going to support the technology we have in the library?

This toolkit is truly geared toward the very small, rural tribal library, an urban library that just doesn't have the tech help it needs.

So this is really helping you get the lay of the land for who can help me with what.

So you're going to figure out what are my training resources and my technical support.

It might be volunteers, it might be someone who works for the county, it might be someone who works amongst a lot of different libraries in your area.

And also we're going to look at how well your broadband provider responds to your request.

Can you pick up the phone and call them?

I know my program works with research and education networks, which are these nonprofit internet service providers.

They are known for being super responsive.

I know I have Comcast, not as responsive.

But you have to work with what you're given.

So kind of figuring out who you can work with.

And then even looking at your broadband service contract.

What does that look like?

What are you being promised?

And what are you really getting is something that this toolkit helps you think through.

The next section is building a network of support and  advocating for your library.

So this is one of our new sections, we're so excited about it.

This is really about, it takes a village, right?

To do this.

And just you alone, especially for these libraries that are run maybe by just volunteers or have just one or two staff members and some other volunteers.

Try to figure out what makes our library unique and essential to our community?

And how are we going to go about building those relationships to get support for new things we want to do?

For things we already do?

It's just going to be -- it's really great how it walks you through those things.

It links to fantastic resources, from the ALA, from -- there's a group called Shelby Schools Health Libraries and Broadband Network.

There are so many wonderful resources, I'm sure hopefully you're familiar with the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, they have a wonderful coalition workbook right now that you can download for free.

So these are some of the resources that we talk about here.

The advocacy piece is so important.

Especially as we're looking for support, trying to get some of those new funding opportunities that are available.

>> CARSON BLOCK: The next section that was also expanded quite a bit is broadband and I.T. funding opportunities.

That's -- I know that when I'm working directly with a library on different things, like what are the barriers that are  holding you back?

The first thing that comes up is budget.

Budget comes up.

So we wanted to make sure we address this in creative ways.

Of course we're going to cover e-rate.

I know my opinion of E-rate has changed quite a bit since there's been enough money for libraries to actually take advantage of those E-rate  funding for internal  connections, which is what we really need to freshen up and one of the primary areas that's targeted here in the toolkit.

But as well as E-rate, because there's reasons some people don't -- some libraries don't want to do E-rate, and that's perfectly fine.

But there's other sorts of options available.

And this helps you think through and to be creative about how to get different funding sources.

And to think differently about this, because technology, well, frankly it snuck into libraries like a thief in the night.

Now it is there.

It's a big part of everything that we do.

And we don't want it to be a barrier.

We want it to be an engine for our delivery of services to our patrons and to building our communities and making them strong.

So it looks at -- helps you creatively walk through and think through all sorts of  funding resources that may be available to you if you shake the bushes a little bit, shake the couch upside down and get that loose change out of that, and apply it to some of your technology expenses.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: What I really like about this, what I'm hoping you'll see when you look at this toolkit too is the amount of thought we've put into this.

Carson and I had a huge -- I took the lead on writing this section, and Carson was giving me just invaluable feedback, and we would meet and talk about this, and we really were focusing on, before you can get funding, let's look at what you have.

Are there any funding that is sunsetting, so you have to realize, we have this program going, and in two years the  funding is done.

That's something you have to start planning for today.

And so it's really -- helps you think through strategically how do we not only know what we're going to go for eventually, but how do we keep the resources we already have, and really mine those funding opportunities with people who are already maybe donating money or sources of funding we already have.

So I just really, hopefully you see that amount of thought in the toolkit and can really give us feedback if you see it and you have other ideas.

We're always hooking for ways to improve it.

This next section, additional resources and best practices.

Another section I feel like we really blew up and expanded this time, because I just -- I love resources.

Cannot get enough.

Always want to share them out with people, because I'm  excited.

Not only E-rate, content  filtering, those are probably things you're at least somewhat familiar with, but broadband networking, data backup, huge right now obviously is digital inclusion and equity.

So maybe you're thinking about doing what's called a digital navigator program.

Well, there was an amazing Salt Lake city library pilot, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance has this incredible toobility, which I should say they have these amazing monthly meetings, where people just share resources.

Literally, like, what's -- give me an example of the door hanger you put on people's doors to help promote your program.

It is that level of sharing takes place.

So just, you're getting links to things like that.

Also free technology related training opportunities.

One of the things I really like in it right now is the  purchasing computer software and equipment, because for me, you guys all work at libraries, you probably have access a lot of times to consumer reports.

But it's not just that, it's also other different resources that you can go to for trusted technology pfng advice.

So sits really great for  planning.

>> CARSON BLOCK: That's right.

And your secret weapon for communication is at the end of the toolkit.

It is a glossary.

Sounds simple, right?

One of the biggest barriers we have is that we all talk in shorthand.

And for the library people here, I want to challenge you for a moment, think of the last time your significant other was with you in a group of your library pals.

And you suddenly started talking about stuff that made their eyes glaze over because you're using so many acronyms, library acronyms that they just lost track.

They had no idea what you were talking about.

This happens to so many people when thinking about technology.

Especially I.T. people, technology people, also speak in acronyms.

It's hard to understand what they're talking about and how these things fit together and what they mean.

That's why we have the glossary, so you can quickly just refresh your own memory perhaps, what is ethernet, for instance, what's a fire wall?

What is the definition of latency?

What's a router?

What's a wireless access point, and the different flavors of wi-fi.

Laying it out there and trying to have a quick guide for you in these relevant areas.

All these things that are  related to the toolkit that you can also consult as you're working through the toolkit.

You can check out the back, and if there's an unfamiliar term, you can look at it, more importantly when you're talking with people that help you with your technology, when you hear one of those terms, you can have a resource to look at and to feel knowledgeable and powerful.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: It real letter goes to that idea of working together and building that common language.

I just think it's so helpful, and it really brings everyone up to the same level so you're comfortable talking about it.

If usual not comfortable talking about it, you have a reference that's going to give you the information you need to know and what's practical.

The toolkit was piloted in over 60 libraries.

Here are the biggest things, I'm sure they're not a shock to you on some level.

There's insufficient bandwidth, insufficient wiring.

When I think about internet speed, I think about how fast is my connection, what's my equipment look like?

I don't think about the wires.

In my house even, I just updated my cables because I was working on this toolkit, and I realized I've been carrying around the same ethernet cables for, you know, eight years.

And they're not as fast as they could be anymore.

And upgrading those actually gave me a boost.

So things that you don't think about sometimes, this will  really draw out.

And so obviously we're having older obsolete equipment, but this is helping you articulate exactly what's going on.

We probably know some of our computers are old.

We know we might have poor wi-fi coverage.

Let's figure out why it's happening, and which we can do about it.

And that's what I love about how this toolkit walks you through things.

A lot of times we're finding people we're not -- were not pating in E-rate.

That is something I think that's still going on.

Carson, I don't know if you want to speak to that.

>> CARSON BLOCK: Totally.

Because this has come up quite a bit with our different stimulus funding packages that are affecting libraries.

One -- there's a couple different reasons to not participate in E-rate.

One is because they don't want to filter.

The library has decide order a policy level not to filter.

That is perfectly fine and acceptable.

There are other libraries who have said, we're not so concerned with the filtering requirements, and filtering technology has improved quite a bit, if we check in, it's not as bad as it used to be.

But regardless, for those who can abide by the requirements of funding, they have a big  problem, which is what do I buy?

What do I get?

What do I improve?

So we discovered that was a huge barrier, especially out in the field, people just not knowing where to start.

And that's what -- that has been a barrier to E-rate.

And once we've -- this is so  funny.

Once we go through the toolkit, we're building, guess what, a list of things to do and buy.

And the next question is,  getting back to the number one question, how am I going to pay for this?

So the E-rate question would then come up as an option as well as the other funding sources.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Yes.

And then there are some things that are just really unique to specific libraries.

One of my favorite anecdotes from piloting the toolkit is where Carson you were at a tribal library and you ran into some adobe buildings.

Maybe share that?

>> CARSON BLOCK: Sure.

So one of the tools we're going to show you in a moment, this is something that you would load on one of your mobile devices.

It's a way to see the invisible, and that's -- it's called a Wi-fi Stumbler, the way to see the strength of a wi-fi signal.

One of the things that you can do with that is you can walk around with your laptop or mobile device and watch the strength of the wi-fi signal start to go down as you get farther and farther away from the access point, or the AP.

That's the wi-fi antenna, it's just an antenna that's broadcasting the wi-fi signal and receiving information from your device.

And what we discovered is when we walked outside the library, the tribal library wanted to basically light up wi-fi for the bus stop, which is right outside the library.

They said, we're having trouble with wi-fi signal out there.

So we brought the stumbler out and we could see as soon as we walked outside, the signal went from okay to almost nothing.

Well, the reason is adobe.

This was a library in the southwest, which was constructed beautiful adobe building.

But at the core, adobe is like a wire mesh and earth.

Put together.

Which make a very good shield against signals.

So what we were able to do is not just say, oh, we have a problem, we could say, now that we know that the adobe is getting in the way of our wi-fi signal, we can put a different antenna so we can serve that area, or perhaps we can move something closer so that there's a nice hot signal outside for our folks on the bus.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Yes.

And I think that bringing the internet outside is something especially with the pandemic, everyone has either thought about or is thinking about doing still when we -- when WebJunction was asking, what are the issues you're seeing here, security and firewalls definitely something that is a big issue that we address in the toolkit.

Bandwidth is so important, and just even understanding what are the providers available to me, how much is it going to cost, how can I help pay for it?

And again, like I said, we work with -- my program works with those nonprofit ISPs that are called state and regional research and education networks, and what's interesting with that is that if you go on the NTIA website, the National Telecommunications website, and you search, they only show you what's available for residential households.

What kind of internet providers.

So you're not even seeing those state networks that might be available to help connect you with a really strong, what we call symmetrical connection.

So it's not just your download speed, your upload speed is fast too.

I'm not here to sell you on that, but I'm just saying that the toolkit can help open your eyes to some other  opportunities.

To help you solve those issues.

And I love that someone did acknowledge cabling was an issue for them, because it is just -- people don't think about it.

It's pretty wild.

>> CARSON BLOCK: That's right.

And a halfs, the first thing I want to see -- in fact, the first thing I want to see when I do a library tour, I'm concerned we have good tools for staff members, but the first thing I want to see is the wiring  closet.

Because that gives me a snapshot of the overall condition and status of what's happening in that library.

We have some libraries that are like A class data centers.

They look to beautiful.

Even if they're small.

They just have nice, neat tidy wiring, there's no mysteries when you walk in, you can see the signal path even when you're there.

We have another, I won't say where, this was not part of the toolkit assessment, this was a different sort of thing, I remember going into their back room, it was a very well-funded library district, they were growing so fast, they could not keep up with their growth.

And I actually saw one of those pizza box size servers, sometimes they're really the size and shape of a very long pizza box, and it was hanging -- it was sitting on top of stacks of papers that had started to disintegrate, and it was hanging on by its ethernet cabling to the switch.

So I think I found your problem right there.

It was one of those things.

But that says a lot about the shape of that, and so I'm so glad that CJ, this is something that you're aware of, because often things like wiring and the condition of wiring gets overlooked, and it can be the hidden problem that we have.

Now, the toolkit leads you to a conclusion of rounding up your own issues and how you should start attacking them.

So this is a very simplistic, sometimes people have called this a technology plan, we call it a broadband improvement plan, because it's just a holding spot to record the observations that you have in terms of need or the performance or the results of some of those questions.

And give you a way to start thinking about how do I really do this?

For instance, if you find that you have a piece of equipment that's obsolete, that's too old, it's not performing well, that's something that's on your  short-term list.

And you can figure out a way to address that as quickly as possible by thinking through the action that you need to take, what the resources are required, what you're trying to intend to do with that, et cetera it's a good thought exercise.

Then there's things that take a little bit longerment you might look at this and go, whoa, we actually are part of a multibranch system, and it looks like we need to do some infrastructure improvements.

We need to improve things for everybody at the core.

That takes a little bit longer.

So your results will be specific to your needs.

But the Broadband Improvement Plan is very simple.

What are the short-term things we need to do right away, and what needs to be -- needs more time or thought or a little bit more strategy and planning to do later?

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Talk about a handy way to present a snapshot to someone of what you need.

This really focuses on not just identifying the issues, figuring out how to solve them and  figuring out how to fund the solutions is obviously something that's important.

So when you're making your case for why you need X, Y, Z  dollars, this is your handy dandy tool for how you're going to show it to people.

Because it's not complicated, it's saying, here's what's  wrong, here's what we need to  do.

Here's the time we need to do  it.

And so we also have some work sheets to help you work through calculating expenses, thinking through those things as well.

So I just, I love the Broadband Improvement Plan is so simple, but it's so effective.

Next, we didn't want to just spend our whole time convincing you that you have to crack open the toolkit, because I will tell you that is the toughest part, just opening it, looking at it, and thinking about it.

I think that's the toughest  part.

Once you start doing it, and -- it's great.

And what I love is you're not committed to doing the whole thing.

If you say, I know we have an equipment problem, go straight to the equipment section.

If you say, we have a funding problem, go straight there.

And that's what's so great about it.

It's just -- you can really  spot-check if you need to.

But you can also be comprehensive.

But here we're going to give you some of our favorite tips and take-aways that you can do in your library, like later today.

Before you even break open the toolkit.

And hopefully this convinces you there's other good stuff in here that we should check out.

We're talking about conducting a speed test.

>> CARSON BLOCK: Speed tests are basics.

You might say, hey, I -- my ISP gave me a speed test and it says everything is perfect!

Everything is running great!

And it might be.

But one thing we want to caution is that sometimes your internet service providers or your  ISPs' speed test can, how do I say this?

It can provide results that are flattering.

Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Because as we -- as I think we all know, the internet and our local area networks are series of networks that are connected together.

So there's good reasons why your ISP has a test server located somewhere where they can be consistent for them.

We're taking a different approach.

We're suggesting that you look at two different types of speed tests.

One is speedtest.net, the Ookla  Speedtest.

We also have M-LAB.

It's an independent lab serving nonprofits, working a lot with libraries.

And it's just another example to use.

These speed tests have also other information that Stephanie was talking about before.

So it's not just the upload and the download speeds, but it's also some of the information about the quality of the connection there.

Stephanie used the word  "latency" which means the delay between when you click on something and when you get a response back.

That's an example of some of the other things that are measured.

But if you're new to this, you can just look at the raw speeds and understand an awful lot about the connection.

So even on the graphic here, if you can look at the speedometer graphic, this is a speed test that Stephanie performed at her house.

And we should say if you're thinking maybe I could use this toolkit in my house to make my internet better.

The answer is yes, please.

Go ahead and do it.

That might be the first place that you try it out in.

The speed test here shows that there is a faster download speed that number way at the top is close to 40 megabits a second, and the upload speed was just over 11 megabits a second.

So just by looking at the speed test, you understand something very powerful.

This is what's called an asymmetrical connection.

Meaning it's faster one direction than it is the other.

So in this case the download speed is faster than the upload speed.

That's a very common situation for many consumer connections.

But also too many library connections.

The reason that perhaps we would want to -- we would use this result and say, hmm, I think we want a symmetrical connection and not an asymmetrical connection, is for the very thing we're doing right now.

We know that you're on a lot of videoconferences and that people are coming into your library, if you're indeed open, and they're using library bandwidth for uploading images to be part of a videoconferencing thing.

So that means that when we have a network connection, we get the most value out of the connection that is the same speed both  ways.

So that's an example of using this information from a test, making a judgment on your own connection, and that leading perhaps to an action to improve it.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG:Definitel y.

And we're talking about upload speed, we're talking about any time you're on Zoom you're doing a two-way call like that, we're also talking about gaming.

Doing virtual health visits.

A lot of libraries are becoming health hubs where people can connect with their doctors for video visits, they might not be able to do at home.

We were talking about latency delay.

So if your library is thinking, we should be a place where kids can come and do gaming or someone could do gaming in the library.

Anything that's over a hundred milliseconds for latency is going to be terrible for gaming.

So that's kind of things that you just need to start thinking about as you're planning out your program.

How is our connection matching that?

>> CARSON BLOCK: They always say that don't worry about when you stress out about things in the library, remember, it's not life or death.

When it comes to latency in  gaming, for the person doing the gaming it might be the difference between life and death.

Within their game.

Okay.

So we have a spreadsheet, it's not a spreadsheet, but it's a chart laid out in a deliberate way.

This chart is an example of things that were developed outside of the toolkit in real world situations, that we brought into the toolkit because they were so useful.

So what happens often is we have a dilemma where you know, you're in your library and you know something is not right with your internet connection.

But you can't put your finger on it.

It's slow.

Which is the most horrifying diagnosis or the most horrifying thing to report.

Because slow is so variable.

What do you mean by slow?

And so you call your ISP, your internet service provider or tech help, and you say, hey, our internet seems to be slow sometimes.

And they check, and they go, nope, you're good.

I can see it from here.

So right now you don't have a solution to your problem, but boy, you've spent a lot of time suffering through the problem, and then not solving the  problem.

So one way to create a dialogue, and this is part of that how to build that dialogue, thinking for a moment about your ISP, is to provide some data that helps you understand the performance issues that you're seeing, and recording those over time, which is why we have these different blocks, and it gives you something to see if you actually do have a problem and then if you do, you can share this data with your internet service provider.

So each of these blocks here, and what we suggest doing is if you are having a speed problem or performance problem, try to test at the same time of the  day, and the best time for a baseline to see what you're  really -- what's really happening is to test first thing in the morning when you're relatively sure no one else is using your internet connection.

And perform a test using both of those testing sites that we recommend, and just record the results here.

Do this the same time every day over a series of days.

Like three to five days.

Just do it, and then look to see what sort of trends that you have.

You might see that everything looks okay.

You might see that there are very big differences between these.

Let's assume for a moment that you discovered that you're  buying 100 megabit per second connection, and you measure and you're seeing only 20 megabits a second.

You don't just see that one day, if you only saw it one day I would think, maybe there's something else happening.

Let's say you do that five  times.

You do that for both sites.

More or less you're getting 20 to 30 megabits a second both sites, and you record the same thing every day for five days.

And you're buying 100 megabits a second.

Well, you have yourself a service call right there.

You have an opportunity to call your ISP or contact your ISP and say, hi, I'd like your help in solving a connection -- a bandwidth problem we're having.

We're purchasing 100 megabits from you, yet when we've performed some measures over the last five days, we're seeing that we're only getting  one-fifth of that.

What can we do to help you solve this problem?

This will completely turnaround your conversation.

Where before you're saying, I'm slow, they say it looks fine to us.

Blah, blah, blah.

In this case you're able to bring data to say, we've done some work, we're really serious, we understand the basics, but this is really your deal.

You're the internet service provider, we don't have control of this.

Maybe there's something on our end we need to pay attention to, that's possible, but these are our results, can you please help us get to the bottom of the question.

You will get a different sort of response, because this is really helpful to tech support people, to have some information, it gives them a basis to see what you're experience is.

And so it turns something that could be an impasse or no progress into something that's powerful and hopefully leads to a resolution.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: And I love that, I use this actually, this approach to improving my home internet recently, I had the classic situation, where your internet service provider is blaming the modem people who are blaming the router people.

And I was able to really document what was going on and think -- I had some tools then to talk to them.

So I said, okay, router people, take me to the error log.

What website do I go to so we can look at the error log together?

And they're like oh, okay.

And so then we're working through it, and even just by playing them off each other, I was able to get Comcast to say, we're going to give you a free modem and router for a month so that you can -- so we can prove to you it's not "This Is Us."

It's them.

And it helped.

And it was the modem and router.

So just being able to be be armed with that information helped me be prepared to have that conversation and to get some results that otherwise I probably wouldn't have felt confident enough to push for.

So I think that's what this toolkit can help you do.

>> CARSON BLOCK: That is such an excellent example.

Because you don't need to turn into a tech to do that.

But like, when you're driving your car, you know if it's working right or not.

You don't need to know every detail about the car to know if it's not perform can right for you.

It's the same thing here.

And believe me, no one is  looking out for you like you will look out for yourself.

Just having this much knowledge will just, Stephanie as you beautifully described, will help you get to a resolution.

This is an example of a tool, this one runs on the Apple laptop platform.

It gives me all the data I need to see in a complex place.

But this is an example of what that wi-fi Stumbler looks like.

Every wi-fi access point broadcasts quite a bit of information about itself.

Including a couple things that are really important, including the channel that it's operating on.

So if you are in a place where there's not a lot of wi-fi in the neighborhood, that's cool, you're probably not having interference from one wi-fi access point interfering with the one you're using for your library.

However, if you're in a place that's really busy, if you are in a more densely populated  area, if you're in an office area or office park area, there might be a lot of wi-fi in your place.

So as well as using the wi-fi stumbler to look at signal strength and to create your own heat map of your library, the heat map shows where your signal strength is strong for wi-fi versus where it's not as strong or not existent, you can also use it to see if maybe you're overlapping a channel with another nearby wi-fi hot spot.

And if you are, then you would know, hey, I think we've got the move -- to move our channel.

I don't think we can make someone else move their channel, nor do we need to, but why don't we see if we can tweak or adjust the frequencies we're using to serve wi-fi and see if we have less interference.

So in the toolkit we have examples of four different  tools, one for PC, one for Mac, one for Android, Apple, there's a lot of others as well, there's lots of great options.

The idea is that you don't know unless you have a tool to measure.

And it can be powerful to see what this looks like.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: And it's cool we've looked at all of these, there are -- there's a lot out there.

But I will say the wi-fi  explorer when I purchased it, just recently to double-check, make sure it was still good, I think it's $21.99.

So that is -- we're buying it, so you don't have to, to let you know at least we've looked at  it, and we think it's a good resource.

It's just really eye-opening, and it really -- it's a very cool thing to look at as well.

I just want to say what I love about this diagram is if you just think it's -- there's a jumble of wires that make the internet happen in your library, this helps dispel that myth, and it really helps you break it down into just, okay, this happens, then it goes here, I just love how it truly traces the connection right into your building.

Walk over to where it comes in your building, and that's where you start with this network diagram.

And it is just eye-opening in my opinion.

>> CARSON BLOCK: And people love doing it when they finally get what this is.

So the cool thing about the -- about computers is that sometimes we think they're random, they're not.

Everything is actually in kind of a linear order.

It's kind of orderly.

It goes fast, it goes in a lot of places, but there's a lot of these linear processes.

And so just drawing a network map from one end, from the internet end to the end device end, and everything in between, just doing that is actually very simple exercise to do.

We have a work sheet for this to help walk you through that and example videos.

It also helps you trouble-shoot things.

And what I would say, this is just based on my experience working with other techs, I work with a lot of techs where we're trying to work on a problem, and they'll -- and I'll say, do you have a network topology diagram?

And they say, no.

It's all until my head.

I know what this is.

Just ask me.

And I -- my response is, I don't know what's in your head.

I don't know what you're not thinking about or what you're omitting when you're talking about and we're trying to come up with a solution.

So we need to draw your network, and then together, we can trouble-shoot it.

This is -- the best techs already know this, they've got these diagrams because they use them all the time.

The other thing too is that this diagram is actually very simple.

There's only a couple of also building blocks, because we've simplified things, you don't need to worry about the complexity of the network, just the simplicity.

The things that need to talk to each other for things to be successful.

If you understand the concept that you can only be as fast as the slowest item in your chain, you can understand how to use a network diagram to diagnose and fix a problem.

And we've got so many people that have done this, people -- sometimes we have longer  sessions will draw a network diagram together, and when we're done, people have been doing it along with me, they hold up their diagrams and they're very happy because they can suddenly see how this works.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: And I love how practical it is.

When we've already kind of gone through the toolkit and we're looking at, okay, what year was this manufactured?

When was this made?

Then as you see it all fit together, like Carson said, you look at the worst thing in your chain, and you say, okay, yeah, the wires are from the early 2000s.

That's probably one of the reasons.

>> CARSON BLOCK: Anyone can understand that, right?

It's not technical knowledge, it's just basic knowledge about how this stuff works.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: I really hope the wi-fi stumbler, the speed test, the network diagram are things that you can use.

We have a good question from CJ in the chat, how do you help keep librarians and library staff motivated on the importance of understanding the information included in the toolkit, and the importance of completing it?

>> CARSON BLOCK: What a great question.

You know, I think it's engaging in some of the problem solving.

So if you can show somebody that -- something that's driving them crazy and they don't understand it, and especially if they want to make it someone else's problem, handle it, fix it, I don't want to know this.

If you can show them how it behooves them to understand just a little bit more so they don't have to be dependent on someone for their own success or  comfort, or productivity, or just not driving -- pulling their hair out because of the same problem, I think if you can show that, that is a very  engaging factor.

This situation CJ that you're bringing up, this often happens in libraries where the technology side of the house has grown separately from the library side of the house.

And there hasn't been enough integration between them.

And also in places where people are just not into tech.

They're looking at it as something separate from their jobs.

So if you can find something that's actually helpful and it was useful for them to look at this and understand it, I think that's the magic.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: And Janet, you make a great point.

Sometimes the director is the person doing everything.

And one of the very first thing in the toolkit is actually kind of identifying your toolkit  team.

So it really is, like, sometimes you are the only person that can work on it, but maybe there's a volunteer that's techie or someone in the community you can have come help you out.

And even just being able to bounce ideas off that person or talk about it, really is helpful in sharing some of that burden and responsibility.

I know it's not always a hundred percent solution, but we find it's very helpful for people.

>> CARSON BLOCK: That's right.

Exactly.

April said, how would one approach replacing all of their existing network wiring in a building if it was installed in the late '90s, early 2000s in a reasonable way?

The first is this will be a major project.

You will have a choice, and that is to either remove and replace the wiring, or to run new  wiring.

I definitely would, this would be something that you would want to do an assessment and to incorporate E-rate if you -- if E-rate is something that you're welcome to put in.

But I think what I would -- how I would approach that job is to assess where today that you need wired connections and you still need them, but maybe you didn't need as many as you had in the past.

So don't make any assumptions that you're going to replace everything that you have there.

Do an assessment, where you need to absolutely have wire, look at places where it's useful to have wireless access as well, now, wireless and wired, those are two different things, wireless is getting better all the time, but you've got to replace it more often.

Wire lasts longer, so you've got -- you're still using wire from the '90s and it's still working in some capacity, right?

So there's some pros and cons, and I'm not ever saying to go completely wireless.

It's just a bad idea still at this point.

You might even consider in some cases depending on your  building, using fiber, inside your building, to connect different network components like switches.

So I think I would look at the most efficient energy and cost efficient way to do a better job, but not to -- do an assessment first, create a strategy, estimate your costs, and then go forward.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: And then David had a great question about just, can you share some real cases?

And how the tools help?

And hopefully I spelled this right, we actually were fortunate enough to get a write-up on the toolkit in American Libraries Magazine, the recent digital inclusion issue that came out.

And so what I love about this is it does have some real-life ways people have used the toolkit.

So this is what I'm going to share here, Maureen, who is an interim libraryaran -- librarian in New Mexico, she used it to actually get a better handle on what the technical concepts were to help her get comfortable applying for E-rate.

The language was dirt, it was just a nebulous concept that didn't make a ton of sense, and just having the toolkit really walked her through step by step, and broke it into bite-sized chunks that helped her do that.

I think a lot of places we also see it is -- it's kind of silly maybe, but just placement of where is your router that -- where are you blasting your wi-fi signal from in your library?

Is it in a corner where it comes into the building, or in the center of the library where people can actually have a  really good signal and use it?

One of the things we're really proud of is that the toolkit was used in the -- in libraries in Montana so they actually used the toolkit in 115 of their 117 libraries.

And so I just linked to the page where they talked about it, we had a wonderful professor from  Simmons University, Dr. Colin  Rhinesmith, who did an analysis, what were the issues people encountered in the toolkit.

So those are resources that I think will point you to  real-Lyle examples in addition to the ones that we do that.

And thank for adding those to the event page.

So kind of -- we're coming up at the end.

Sorry, go ahead.

>> CARSON BLOCK: There's even more, if you look at the -- this is a subscription thing for the first year from ALA Tech  Reports, the October 2021 issue has a history of the toolkit and many more examples of the applications.

And Ambramoff 0 to Maureen, she's my hero.

 bravo to Maureen.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: We're coming up at the top of the  hour.

What are the next steps for our grant, Gigabit Libraries  Toolkit?

We are working on refining 1.5.

Truly, if you have feedback on it or have ideas, let us know.

We're so open to taking feedback from real life people who are using it.

We're working with our incredible advisory board, if you go to our project web page, we have state librarians, digital inclusion people, people from all different walks of life who help us with this toolkit.

We're meeting with them actually in May for another great meeting to go over this version 1.5 that you get this exclusive access to.

So we're going to be working and doing some more pilots with tribal and rural libraries, as well as urban libraries.

To do that.

And I see we have a question from Janet about, can I sign up my tiny rural library to be a test case?

Absolutely.

Let's see how we can work together.

We're still going to be putting together our list for outreach, but we are looking for places that are interested in participating.

And giving us feedback.

So we're also building relationships with those research and education networks I was talking about.

They help us go out and get the word out.

And finally, we're developing some train the trainers seminars to help us promote the toolkit and work on outreach.

So here is how to stay  connected.

We actually have a Twitter presence now, which is exciting.

>> CARSON BLOCK: And -- sorry.

Download the toolkit, we're so thrilled, really grab that -- the Twitter account, follow us, and we will be continuing to give you more and more information about things, especially as things are developing.

Give email -- email to  Stephanie, just get in touch if you want to provide toolkit feedback, if you have thoughts about what we did today, Stephanie's email address is right there.

The most important thing, though, is just grab the toolkit and find something that will help you, and make a difference with it.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Thank you so much to WebJunction, to everyone for attending today.

Please follow up if you have questions or want -- have ideas.

We would love to hear from you and talk to you.

>> CARSON BLOCK: That's right.

Thank you so much, folks.

>> JENNIFER PETERSON: Fantastic.

Thanks so much both of you, I think you have one more slide, Stephanie.

Thank you so much for all of this information, and I -- it's so funny that you guys are as excited about it growing.

Because I think maybe some of it -- knowing that you really have integrated additional tools and facets that have come up through the process over these last, wow, seven years.

>> CARSON BLOCK: Right?

>> JENNIFER PETERSON: Excellent.

Thank you so much, and a couple things to note, I will be  sending you all to a short survey as you leave today.

We'll provide that feedback to Carson and Stephanie for their ongoing learning, and it helps us determine our programming.

And I'll also send you all an email later today once the recording is posted, and I'll automatically send you a certificate for attending today.

So thank you so much, thank you to Stephanie and Carson, thanks to our captioner.

And I hope everyone has a great rest of your week.

Thank you.

>> STEPHANIE STENBERG: Have a great day, thank you.

>> CARSON BLOCK: Bye bye.