Rural Libraries

Continuing the Political Climate discussion.....

Rural libraries have a harder time keeping up with library trends than larger systems for several reasons. When a county's population is growing it is easier to defend the budget of the library system because needs are obvious. Growing communities also mean a larger revenue base to draw from. It also means there are more people using the library and placing a greater demand for materials, computer access and upgrades and programming. In a rural community where the population may not change much or not at all, the needs for materials, computers and programs are still there, but the county may not have the resources to meet the demands. The revenue or income in the county is flat with very little change. It becomes a challenge for a rural library to purchase new materials or computers when even the postage increases affect the library budget in a negative way.

All libraries face budget constraints and I do not want to imply that larger systems don't have these same type of issues. I work in rapidly growing county with a public library system that is expanding. I also happen to purchase some of the materials for the system. There is never enough money. In my Public Library Administration class in grad school one of my classmates was telling us how her rural Tennessee branch library had a materials budget that was appalling. I spend more in my monthly budget allowance for materials than she gets for the year. This really drove home the challenges that rural libraries everywhere face on a daily basis.

Leslie