Scott Clifford is the Adult Services Coordinator for the Kuskokwim Consortium Library in Bethel. And if you didn’t know his job title, it might be hard to guess what he does all day. When you listen to him talk about it, it's clear that his job consists of many different things.
“We can fax!” Clifford exclaimed. “If people want things to be faxed, we know how to. I've faxed many, many things.”
In addition to faxing, Clifford spends a lot of time helping people manage reservations with Alaska Airlines, look up digital legal files, and navigate the ins and outs of applying for a moose hunting license online. Basically, Clifford is someone people in the community can go to for technical help of almost any kind. He serves as a Jesuit Volunteer, a role supported by joint government and nonprofit funding.
“A big part of it is what we call just technical one-on-one help, which is if people just need help using the internet, or any sort of computer literacy for any sort of task,” Clifford explained. “It doesn't really matter what, and really it often is just having an extra set of eyes and someone to be like, ‘yeah, no, that's a good idea.’”
The Kuskokwim Consortium Library has recently been recommended for a federal grant of $1.4 million that would go towards expanding its digital equity. It would mean purchasing updated technology for the community to access and employing two full-time staff to do what Clifford does — helping people with virtually anything digital they may need.
Theresa Quiner is the director of the Kuskokwim Consortium Library.
“We definitely have some older people that have needed help with things like updating their payment method at the Walmart pharmacy online,” noted Quiner. “We had a gentleman come in this week who has a travel credit on Alaska Air[lines] that he needs to renew. We've had a lot of employment-related things, helping people with resumes. We've helped a lot of people with things relating to [Supplimental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits and other public benefits type things.”
The grant would allow the hiring of two digital navigators, folks in the library dedicated to helping community members hands-on with their tech needs. The grant funds these positions for four years, and also funds a fifth year dedicated to reporting on how the grant has been used, with the goal of creating a sustainable blueprint for expanding digital equity.

The grant funding would start in April 2025 and would also cover the cost of new library technology, including computers community members could eventually keep after completing a series of sessions or workshops. But a lot of the details would be teased out through community outreach.
“Right now it's very passive,” Quiner said. “We wait for people to come into the library with a question, and then we help them with that task. But, like, this would be more like heavy outreach to find out what the needs are of the people in the community and tailoring what we offer based on what people need from us.”
Kuskokwim Consortium Library is a subgrantee of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) — an organization supporting community organizations to further digital equity.
Earlier this month, NDIA was selected as one of 24 organizations to be recommended for the competitive Digital Equity Grant from the United States Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunication and Information Administration.
Along with the Kuskokwim Consortium Library, NDIA also is slated to receive funding for 12 other nonprofits across the country to help them expand digital access in their communities.
Angela Seifer is the executive director of NDIA and said that the organization invited the library to apply to be a subgrantee because of the digital equity work they were already doing.
“They're dedicated to this issue,” Seifer said. The folks there completely understand the value. And they also come from a unique place where they are both a public library and also a library within the university, which is really unique, and so they'll have a lot to learn, a lot to share.”
In addition to the $1.4 million in grant funding, the library will also receive an additional $150,000 from the University of Alaska Fairbanks as well as trainings from the NDIA aimed to connect the subgrantees with each other to share knowledge.
Though NDIA has been recommended for funding, the award is still being finalized.
“Now it's in what one might call the paperwork portion where, you know, digital paperwork these days, but the folks will go in detail through our budget and may ask us some questions,” Seifer said.
The grantees have been recommended by the Biden-Harris administration, but will be finalized under the Trump-Vance administration. It’s unclear if this change will impact the finalization process of the grant.
Clifford, the adult services coordinator, said that there’s certainly a need for the grant funding because he’s been busy. A Kuskokwim Consortium Library with two more of him would mean more hands dedicated to the community's active needs.
“A library is a place to read, but most people who come into the library don't read,” Clifford said. “That is just a fact, and all of my coworkers can corroborate this. A library is just a place for us to help service the community, and we want to help the community in any way we can.”
Clifford said that if anyone in the Bethel community needs support with anything from email help to airline bookings, they can make an appointment with him through the library. Or just stop by and ask. He said that he’ll be happy to help.