The American Library Association (ALA) is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt network neutrality rules necessary in order to support the mission of libraries.
“Network neutrality strikes at the heart of library core values of intellectual freedom and equitable access to information,” stated Courtney Young, president of the ALA. “We are extremely concerned that broadband Internet access providers currently have the opportunity and financial incentive to degrade Internet service or discriminate against certain content, services and applications.”
The ALA has joined with 10 other national higher education and library organizations to file joint public comments with the FCC, as part of the government agency’s public comment period on the debate. The period to comment ended on Friday, and the FCC reported receiving more than a million comments.
In their comments, the ALA stressed the importance of net neutrality on education. “America’s libraries collect, create and disseminate essential information to the public over the Internet, and enable our users to create and distribute their own digital content and applications,” continued Young in her statement. “For all these reasons and many more, the rules to be set by the FCC will have an enormous impact on our public, K-12 school, and higher education libraries—as well as our students, educators, researchers, innovators, and learners of all ages.”