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Library outreach programs in rural areas - Rural Libraries and Information Services

Library Trends, Summer, 1995 by Judith I. Boyce, Bert R. Boyce

THE PROBLEM

Library use of outreach programs in rural areas is the focus of this article. The libraries involved are primarily facilities attempting to serve a population so dispersed and distributed as to make major use of a central facility unlikely and difficult for a portion of the people served. It is important to understand that if by rural library service we mean services provided by public libraries in communities of fewer than 2,500 people--the U.S. Bureau of Census, definition of rural--we are talking about libraries with budgets of about $15,000 per year. If we include libraries that serve populations of less than 25,000, as does Vavrek (1990), we increase the average budget to only $81,000. Such libraries are not likely to have sophisticated or expensive equipment or large numbers of highly trained and experienced personnel. On the other hand, they are likely to have personnel with close ties to the community and an excellent understanding of community needs and desires. One need only read the testimony of Hales (1992) of the Suwannee River Regional Library in Live Oak, Florida, to get a feel for the limited availability of resources to that large portion of our public libraries that serve small populations.

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THE RURAL ENVIRONMENT AND ITS PROBLEMS

The problems of rural library service may be characterized in simple terms of cost and distance. Library service costs money. As a public good, its cost is distributed over a large number of people, and its services are available to all of these. Where people are concentrated, this works well enough since, for a small individual cost, a significantly effective facility in relatively easy reach of all the contributors can be provided. When the population is dispersed, a far larger area is needed to provide the resources for an effective information service facility. By the very nature of the situation, this facility cannot be in easy reach of all those who must contribute to its support, unless it is itself distributed over the distances involved. This distribution of facilities and services is what we mean by rural outreach.

THE CONCEPT OF OUTREACH AND ITS METHODS

There are a great many unserved, but potential, library patrons in rural areas. A basic willingness to do what is necessary to serve the unserved is what outreach is all about. A formal definition of the term is more difficult to find. As Weibel (1982) says:

While the term outreach is used extensively in library literature from the

mid-sixties on, a specific definition is not readily offered. Outreach is

often used interchangeably with synonyms such as extension and the

phrases "service to the disadvantaged" or "unserved," and "community"

or "inner-city service." Modifications in the goals or type of library service

described can be seen over the period examined, while the interchangeability

of terms and the lack of specificity of their definition remains.

(p. 5)

There is, of course, associated with the term outreach, the concept that service must be proactively extended beyond the walls of the library building to the actual area of need for service. Some sense of community involvement in library decision making is often implied as well. New service populations may require new services and new materials. As Tate (1972) said: "In many cases `reaching out' has meant handing out the same old wares in a different way" (p. 3) . In more recent years, the wares have indeed changed both inside and outside library walls. Certainly modern outreach service seems to center on delivery mechanisms to external clients. That which is delivered is generally that which is also available within the library building. Assuming that these deliverables are among those that the community needs and desires, this is appropriate. The community, of course, should be studied to ascertain whether or not this is the case, and if not, just what the needs might be.

deGruyter (1982) finds rural library use about equally divided between reading for entertainment and "trying to obtain useful knowledge." She determines that the rural library user is more active in cultural and social activities and has more education than the nonuser. A classic study is that of Bundy (1960). She found that the farmer was not a reader of books but rather a reader of a regular flow of bulletins and journals related to agricultural practices that may increase efficiency. She says: "To the farmer, a library is an agency for women and children, not geared to the farmer's interests and not planned around his convenience" (p.146) . Vavrek (1990), thirty years later, finds that seven out of ten rural library clients are women (p. 2). It would appear that rural library service, whatever delivery system it may use, has yet to appeal to the males of the rural family.

The traditional library outreach mechanisms provide books and other materials to those who are unlikely or unable to reach the physical library. Philip (1989) lists branches, mail delivery, and bookmobiles as the prime methods but also considers depository collections and other institutional outreach services involving delivery of materials to facilities whose inhabitants cannot easily access what is necessary to meet their information needs. The truly rural library will be hard pressed to provide traditional library outreach mechanisms since its budget may simply not stretch to cover such expense. Outreach in libraries with budgets below $81,000 a year will rely on their staff's knowledge of community needs and their ability and commitment to personally provide services outside the library's walls. Books by mail and bookmobiles are far from low cost delivery systems. Boyce and Boyce (1989) found that:

Library outreach programs in rural areas - Rural Libraries and Information Services

Library Trends, Summer, 1995 by Judith I. Boyce, Bert R. Boyce

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