New Education Initiative to Provide Free E-Books For Low-Income Students

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in terms of providing education for lower-income American children is the sheer lack of resources and money that some schools and states have to spend on things like books and libraries. However, a new plan proposed by the Obama Administration–and involving the help of large book publishers and others–is aimed at closing some of those gaps. The new goal is to provide thousands of free e-books for low-income children.

The initiative was proposed by President Obama at Anacostia Library, part of a low-income neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C.

The plan has a lot of high profile players involved. In addition to the Obama Administration, the five major publishers–Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck’s Macmillan, CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster Inc, Penguin Random House, Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group Inc, and News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers LLC–have all signed on to help. Overall, 10,000 books will be added to the list that will be provided to low-income children via an e-book format. The books will be chosen from volunteers from the Digital Public Library of America. Yet another organization lending a hand will be the New  York Public Library, which has agreed to develop the application through which the children will be able to access the works. Overall, the plan allots $250 million for the project.

Both libraries and schools are beginning to provide more hardware so that students can access the internet–presumably these e-books would be read on those. This is part of Obama’s ConnectEd program, which encourages using technology to promote and further the American education system. Additionally, tech leader Apple recently pledged to donate $100 million in tech devices to lower-income schools.

One of Obama’s domestic policy advisors, Cecilia Muñoz, pointed out how odd this push for e-books may seem to older American generations, stating:

It’s very different than from our generation. More and more, you’re going to be seeing kids using devices, and what we’re doing is making sure that there’s more books available on those devices.

That assessment does seem accurate. But given that low-income families have significantly less access to the internet and corresponding devices with which to access it, the move to incorporate schools and libraries into the plan is a good call.

The exact specifics of the plan seem to still be up in the air. Whether or not the books will only be accessible in some places, for example, such as libraries or schools, or whether children with accessible devices will be able to access them at home, doesn’t seem to be set in stone. Whether or not the books will be “loaned” like from a library, or distributed freely also seems undecided.

Regardless of how those details are sorted out, however, this certainly seems like a good move to provide more students with access to books. Moreover, the partnership with publishing companies and public institutions is laudable. Someday I hope we can reach a point where every child has access to all the resources he or she needs to reach educational success–this is a small, but great step, in the right direction.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.