Vermont Libraries Using New Fiber Optic Network
The Vermont Telecommunications Authority, the Vermont Department of Libraries, and Sovernet Communications recently completed a successful project which is providing the highest possible capacity broadband for information sharing and communications at 43 libraries across the state.
Sovernet’s fiber network provides these libraries with fiber broadband necessary for the support and expansion of digital services for the public, including high-speed public computing and wireless service. It enables use of high-bandwidth programs like video conferencing and video streaming. The project provides state-of-the-art network connectivity to these libraries at a cost below what such a service would have cost individually and enables the libraries to form a secure wide area network with support from the Vermont Department of Libraries.
The Vermont FiberConnect project was funded as part of a $33.4 million federal grant awarded to the Vermont Telecommunications Authority and Bellows Falls-based Sovernet Communications. Matching funds and implementation support totaling $550,000 was provided to the Vermont Department of Libraries by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These investments in the project, along with Sovernet’s own investment of $12.5 million and state appropriations of more than $2.3 million, enabled the creation of the new state-of-the-art fiber network.
The federal grant was awarded in 2010 by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. It has funded Sovernet’s development of fiber-optic infrastructure covering over 800 miles in southern, central, and northeastern Vermont. The network will connect more than 300 community anchor locations, including libraries.
By December 2014, these fourty-three libraries across Vermont had begun using this high-capacity fiber-optic network:
LIBRARY NAME, TOWN
Martha Canfield Memorial Free, Arlington
Aldrich Public, Barre
Bennington Free, Bennington
John G. Mccullough Free, North Bennington
Brooks Memorial, Brattleboro
Cabot Public, Cabot
Castleton Free, Castleton
Pope Memorial, Danville
Dorset Village Public, Dorset
Dover Free, Dover
Fair Haven Free, Fair Haven
Guilford Free, Guilford
Jeudevine Memorial, Hardwick
Hartford, Hartford
Wilder Branch, Hartford/Wilder
Cobleigh Public, Lyndon
Manchester Community Library, Manchester
Jaquith Public, Marshfield
Kellogg-Hubbard, Montpelier
Moore Free, Newfane
Maclure, Pittsford
Cutler Memorial, Plainfield
Poultney Public, Poultney
Solomon Wright Public, Pownal
Putney Public, Putney
Quechee Public, Quechee
Kimball Public, Randolph
Reading Public, Reading
Rockingham Free Public, Rockingham
R.K. Kittay Public, Rupert
Rutland Free, Rutland
St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Saint Johnsbury
Baxter Memorial, Sharon
Vernon Free, Vernon
Wardsboro Free Public, Wardsboro
Weathersfield-Proctor, Weathersfield
Westminster West Public, Westminster West
Wilder Memorial, Weston
West Rutland Free, West Rutland