Low-income students and their families are getting some assistance with digital literacy skills and internet connections at home. The American Library Association (ALA) shared this news with us in their release, “American Library Association and Cox Communications partner to narrow digital divide for low-income families.”

Nearly all students (96.5% percent) say they are required to use the internet to complete homework assignments outside of school and yet 49% say they have experienced being unable to complete a homework assignment because they didn’t have access to a computer or the internet. The ALA and Cox Communications announced a new partnership that will connect low-income students and their families with technology, providing a stronger foundation for success in the classroom, continuing education and job opportunities.

Virtually all libraries (98.5%) offer Wi-Fi. This enables them to act as technologically enabled hubs. Library services include both training on how to make use of new technologies and assistance with their application to a range of learning, work, health and government services contexts.

Melody K. Smith

Sponsored by Data Harmony, a unit of Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.