Challenges of the rural environment in a global economy - rural libraries can provide their communities access to the information superhighway - Rural Libraries and Information Services

Counties Adjacent to Large Metro Areas

While growth in retirement counties and other counties with physical amenities is largely based on the desire of people to enjoy a lifestyle and engage in activities not available in big cities, many other rural counties adjacent to big cities also are experiencing economic and population growth because the adjacency brings with it the ability to take advantage of economic opportunities found in those cities. For people it means jobs. For businesses, it means quick access to information, markets, and technical assistance, all of which facilitate quick response to opportunities and problems, one of the keys to effectively running a business.

There were 186 nonmetro counties that met the Economic Research Service's definition of adjacency to large metro areas (population of 1 million or more) in 1990 (see Map 4). The adjacency criteria include physically abutting the metro area and also having workers commute to the metro area's core counties. These classification rules explain why most large metro areas are not completely ringed by adjacent nonmetro counties. Statistics on both population and employment growth in adjacent counties support the importance of linkage to metro areas in promoting economic activity. In the 1980s, the population of counties adjacent to large metro areas grew more than twice as fast as the total nonmetro population--7.5 percent compared with 2.7 percent--and twice as fast as those nonmetro counties adjacent to smaller metro areas (Ghelfi & Parker, In press). The same pattern of growth differentials existed for employment over the 1980s, but the differences in growth rates were not as large. The faster growth in rural areas bordering large metro areas suggests the powerful advantage of being connected to metropolitan economies and the need to help rural areas overcome their isolation if they are to be competitive in the national and international economies.

CONCLUSIONS

The overall picture emerging from this analysis of the demographic and socioeconomic trends of rural America is that the basic character of being rural places rural areas at a serious disadvantage in the national economy. The absence of economies of scale and the remoteness from metro areas in combination seriously impede the creation of highly skilled, high-paying jobs in rural areas. The information superhighway is one means to overcome that liability by making information that is available in metro areas also available in rural areas. The challenge to rural areas is to make sure that their people, businesses, and communities have access to that information superhighway and, once on the highway, know how to use it to improve their status.

Expenditures data from the 1987 Census of Governments indicate that nearly all rural counties supported libraries, spending an average of $142,000. The 1992 survey of public libraries by the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, confirms that nearly all rural counties (97.4 percent) have at least one public library outlet (central or branch library or bookmobile service), averaging 3.3 outlets per rural county. Even 96.8 percent of the most remote rural counties (defined as nonmetro counties that are not adjacent to a metro area and do not contain a city with 10,000 or more residents) have at least one public library outlet.