The Kanawha County Public Library System has been selected to participate in a federal pilot program to improve digital security.
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program aims to help schools and libraries protect their broadband networks and data. Over the next three years, participants will have the opportunity to receive grants and reimbursements for cybersecurity services and equipment including advanced firewalls, identity protection and authentication, and monitoring.
Teddy Claypool, IT manager for Kanawha County Public Libraries, said as technology progresses, more and more of life is moving online, a trend that was only accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Over the years we’ve seen a great increase in people doing job interviews, applications to universities or schools all online,” Claypool said. “It is very common, in some cases, to even do court hearings digitally. So we’ve evolved to increase the number of study rooms and technology we have available”.
According to Claypool, that in turn means transmitting more data, including personally identifiable information, to and from public institutions.
“Schools and libraries are looking for increased security and better protection for our students, our employees and our patrons as they access this new digital landscape,” he said.
Along with offering traditional fare such as music, movies and of course books digitally, libraries now also offer digital resources including internet-enabled devices and mobile hotspots.
“Working in libraries in the modern age has become really more than just books,” Claypool said. “That’s a slogan that our library uses now, is ‘More Than Books.’ Libraries invest very much in lending all sorts of things that the public may want access to. There’s a significant digital divide in West Virginia where individuals aren’t able to get broadband access.”
The Kanawha County Public Library System is the only participant from West Virginia in the FCC’s pilot program, and Claypool says they are excited to share what they learn with other schools and libraries in the state.
“Us going through with this program now would give other schools and libraries the opportunity as they come after us to see what things may work better,” he said. “Therefore anyone doing this in future years would get a better return on their investment, a better use of those dollars, as they would know precisely where we got the most effective return on investment for the technology or applications that we used.”