Use
of Small and Rural Libraries Grows in the Digital Age
New data provide first
federal look at these important community institutions
Washington, DC -- Rural and small public libraries in the United States are community anchors, providing critical services and resources to meet a variety of local needs. The IMLS brief, The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States, provides the agency’s first targeted analysis of trends for rural and small library services. The report gives an overview of the distribution, service use, fiscal health, and staffing of these important community assets. One of the report’s surprising findings is the sheer number of public libraries that can be classified as either small or rural.
The
brief’s key findings include the following:
·
Of the 8,956
public libraries in the United States in FY2011, 77.1 percent can be
categorized as small. Almost half of all public libraries, 46.8 percent, were
rural libraries. Their sheer number and broad distribution across the country
speaks volumes about the value local communities place on library services.
·
In FY2011, there
were 167.6 million recorded visits to rural public libraries, a number that has
increased by 4.2 percent over the past three years, and there were 301.2
million visits to small public libraries in FY2011, a three-year increase of
4.6 percent. The fact that service use continues to increase at these libraries
at a time when other libraries are experiencing declines on a per capita basis
is a further testament to their resilience and continued relevance to rural
life.
·
There were
49,048 publicly accessible computer terminals in rural libraries in FY2011, a
three-year increase of 20.2 percent. In comparison to urban public libraries,
rural libraries have higher per-capita levels of publicly accessible Internet
computers and e-books. Given the lag in broadband access in rural communities
when compared to suburban and urban areas, this further emphasizes the strong
role public libraries play in providing access to the critical digital
resources that are directly related to 21st-century skills.
For
more research, data, and publications of the IMLS Office of Planning, Research,
and Evaluation visit the IMLS webpage at www.imls.gov/research.
