Rural Libraries Research Articles

Abstract B001: Rural interventions to improve breast, cervical and colorectal screening rates: Recruitment strategies for women in rural areas

Abstract Rural areas of the United States have less access to quality healthcare, higher rates of cancer incidence and mortality, and lower screening rates compared to urban areas. The Rural Interventions for Screening Effectiveness (RISE) Study conducted by Indiana University and The Ohio State University focuses on improving breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening rates in rural Indiana and Ohio by encouraging female residents ages 50-74 years to receive necessary screenings. Two interventions are tested: an interactive DVD, and the DVD combined with patient navigation. Recruitment occurred October 2017 - June 2019. This paper evaluates recruitment strategies used by RISE in order to better understand which method was most effective and to determine if participants differed demographically by recruitment method. An array of recruitment strategies were used, including purchasing contact lists to call women in the recruitment area, internet advertising, and physical advertisements placed within the communities. Outbound mailing and calling, the sole method initially planned, was performed for the first 6 months of recruitment, using purchased phone and address lists of female residents of rural counties of northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio. Internet advertising was primarily conducted using Facebook to target female users 50 years or older in rural areas of both states. Community advertising was performed by mailing flyers to be displayed in rural libraries, senior and community centers, and other locations where residents congregate. Recruitment strategies differed in effort, cost, and yield. Mailing and calling using purchased lists was used to attempt to reach 5240 women, successfully reaching and reviewing medical records for 275 women, yielding 154 eligible women. Median household income of these women was $50,000-$59,999 and median age was 63 years. This strategy was costly, high effort, and did not yield enough participants to warrant continuing. Community advertising involved identifying suitable locations and requesting permission to post promotional materials. Although this strategy’s reach cannot be determined, 163 women contacted staff to request more information, 67 progressed to medical record review, and 38 were enrolled. Median household income of these participants was $70,000-$79,999 and median age was 62 years. Through Internet advertising, 3116 spoke to interviewers about the study, with 1297 progressing to medical record review, yielding 793 eligible participants. Median household income was $70,000-$79,999; median age was 58 years. Although Internet recruitment was the most successful strategy, it may have unintentionally targeted younger or more affluent women who own and use smartphones or home computers with internet access. With technology becoming increasingly pervasive and as people become more hesitant to answer phone calls from foreign numbers, recruitment strategies must be evaluated to ensure the study population is truly being reached. Citation Format: Ryan D Baltic, Gregory S Young, Mira L Katz, Susan Rawl, Victoria Champion, Electra D Paskett. Rural interventions to improve breast, cervical and colorectal screening rates: Recruitment strategies for women in rural areas [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr B001.

Communicating Communism: Social Spaces and the Creation of a “Progressive” Public Sphere in Kerala, India

Communism arrived in the south Indian state of Kerala in the early twentieth century at a time when the matrilineal systems that governed caste-Hindu relations were crumbling quickly. For a large part of the twentieth century, the Communist Party – specifically the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – played a major role in navigating Kerala society through a developmental path based on equality, justice and solidarity. Following Lefebvre’s conceptualisation of (social) space, this paper explores how informal social spaces played an important role in communicating ideas of communism and socialism to the masses. Early communists used rural libraries and reading rooms, tea-shops, public grounds and wall-art to engage with and communicate communism to the masses. What can the efforts of the early communists in Kerala tell us about the potential for communicative socialism? How can we adapt these experiences in the twenty-first century? Using autobiographies, memoirs, and personal interviews, this paper addresses these questions.

Bridging the Gap: Rural Librarians’ Journey to Understanding Students’ Role in OER Outreach

Literature detailing how small, rural academic institutions have implemented initiatives for Open Educational Resources (OER) is limited; most articles focus on university systems, state schools, and R1 research institutions. Our outreach—conducted over the past year at rural Adams State University—initially targeted faculty. However, after encountering silence from this group, we sought to explore the largely uncharted possibility of engaging students as advocates. While our continuing efforts will certainly seek to promote faculty awareness and address barriers to adoption, we have come to understand two things: that faculty engagement is not enough and that student advocacy can play a great role. The librarians’ first goal in our nascent OER initiative is to educate and empower the student body, and by doing so, help bridge the gap between librarian advocates and faculty adopters. Our initial outreach effort to measure student awareness and interest had two aspects: in-person and online. The first step was to talk to students face-to-face about textbooks and associated costs, while informing them of the existence of OER and alternative textbook sources. The second step was to engage students online via a survey. This helped us gain insight into their perspectives regarding the problems they face due to textbook prices. Going forward, we plan to create a two-pronged outreach method: some continuing education of faculty, but more emphasis on students. Our goal is to equip students with the knowledge to advocate for OER to faculty, administration, peers, and even family. Final takeaways from this project include the need to involve students in outreach efforts and to encourage them to participate in future OER planning and projects. No single group can solve the problem of outrageous textbook costs; it is only by faculty, librarians, and students working together that Adams State University will join the nationwide OER movement, not just as participants, but as contributors.

Jacques and Jacqueline Groag: Architect and Designer — Two Hidden Figures of the Viennese Modern Movement by Ursula ProkopLaura McGuire Jonee TiedemannLaura McGuire

Reviews 203 these diaries, the writing here often turns purple: Alma’s tears ‘well up’, she is ‘plunged’ into despair, while as disasters ‘loom’ storms ‘brew’ outside (pp. 42, 43). Hilmes’s work is only perfunctorily acknowledged, but Passionate Spirit reveals a certain indebtedness to Malevolent Muse, especially in the closing chapters where there is an observable material overlap between the two. For instance, both contain sections entitled ‘La grande veuve’. At all stages, however, Hilmes’s text is richer and more deeply rooted in its subject, although the comparative superficiality of Haste’s work doubtless makes for a smoother read, especially for non-specialists. Nevertheless, Passionate Spirit presents itself as a seriously researched piece of work. Haste claims ‘to have mined in more detail than previous commentators’ Alma’s early diaries (p. xi) while failing to mention that their editor also drew heavily upon them in her own (untranslated) biography. This work does not appear in the bibliography. To her credit, Haste confronts the many unappealing aspects of a personality moulded by grand passions and a brave refusal to accept the norms of a patriarchal society. It would have been hard to ignore Alma’s craving for selfgratification , her jealous urge to be the focus of attention, and a very lusty appetite for alcohol, mischief-making and revenge against any perceived slight. Where Passionate Spirit fails to impress is in its signal ignorance of the German language and the Austrian culture and localities in which Alma was grounded. It grates to read of her songs ‘Einsammer Gang’ and ‘Emtelied’, or that she spent time ‘in the Semmering’ and lived on Vienna’s ‘Elizabethstrasse’. Inevitably, ‘Hoffmansthal’ appears, but the mistranslation of ‘Wiener Stadtund Landesbibliothek’ as ‘Municipal and Rural Library, Vienna’ is a rare gem, unlike The Sisters of Naples for Werfel’s novel Die Geschwister von Neapel. Is it too much to hope that with Passionate Spirit the perceived need for Alma Mahler biographies will now have been sated? For all her artistic potential, Alma was never the ‘prolific composer’ Haste claims her to have been (p. 393), but her role as a vital accessory in the life and work of notably creative men both Jewish and Gentile (Gustav Mahler and Franz Werfel, Oskar Kokoschka and Walter Gropius) is now long established and undisputed. Time then, perhaps, for the first-ever biography of Max Bod, without whom the world would know far less of the genius of both Franz Kafka and Leoš Janáček? Andrew Barker University of Edinburgh Jacques and Jacqueline Groag: Architect and Designer — Two Hidden Figures of the Viennese Modern Movement. By Ursula Prokop. Trans. by Laura McGuire and Jonee Tiedemann. Ed. by Laura McGuire. Los Angeles: DoppelHouse Press, 2019. 272 pp. $39.95. ISBN 9780999754436. Ursula Prokop’s ambitious double biography, a translation of her Germanlanguage version with Böhlau (2005), presents the architect and designer couple Jacques and Jacqueline Groag as seminal, yet hidden, figures in Viennese modernism. Despite their linkages to Secessionist and interwar Vienna’s Reviews 204 most important artistic and cultural luminaries, the Groags’ reputation has faded in the shadow of better-known Viennese ‘superstars’. Including figures also covered in her important Zum jüdischen Erbe in der Wiener Architektur (Vienna, 2016), a panoramic study of the forgotten Jewish contribution to Viennese architecture and design, Prokop’s Groag monograph excavates the couple’s centrality to progressive interwar design in ventures like the 1932 Werkbund Exhibition in Vienna and a series of design exhibitions in post-war Britain, where the couple emigrated after the Anschluss. Groag, born into a well-connected Moravian-Jewish family, served as site architect for the legendary Wittgenstein House and Loos’s Haus Moller, a building notable for its cubic structure interrupted by a protruding window, before developing his own formal vocabulary in a series of commissions in Olmütz, Vienna and the countryside. Informed by a Loosian Raumplan liberating the architect to create free-flowing divisions between rooms, ceilings and stories, and formal ideas from contemporaries like Le Corbusier, Groag’s signature style married modernist formal purity with biomorphic tendencies in floor planning and site construction, including differentiated building heights to suit terrain and the comfortable, light adaptable...

Rural Libraries in China: Towards Educational and Informational Equality of Population

The article discusses the policy of the People’s Republic of China to expand, develop and modernize the network of rural libraries, introduce new standards of activity and innovative forms of work aimed at equalizing the imbalance between the city and village by increasing the cultural and educational level and overcoming the information poverty of local residents. The author characterizes the government programs of the People’s Republic of China in this area, adopted over the past two decades: “Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project” (2002), “Comprehensive Cultural Station Construction Project” (2006), “Farmer’s Reading Rooms Project” (2007), “Working Opinions on the Promotion of the National Art Gallery, Public Library, Cultural Centres and Stations Free to All” (2011), “Public Electronic Reading Room Construction Plan” (2012), “Support Plan for Libraries in Poor Areas” (2014), as well as the “Plan for Modernizing the System of Providing Public Services in the Sphere of Culture” and the “National Program for Promoting Reading” for 2015—2020. The article considers the structure of the library network in rural regions of China and the functions of its structural units, financing and human resources of rural libraries, the organization of stationary and extension library services, the requirements for premises, collections, technical equipment and the provision of remote access to information sources. Special attention is paid to the implementation of programs in rural regions of the country to promote digital reading and connect libraries to the services of the National Digital Library (under the guidance of the National Library of China). The article outlines the main problems existing in rural libraries of the People’s Republic of China, and the ways of their solution proposed by Chinese specialists. The author emphasizes that the Chinese experience may be of interest to Russia, taking into account the challenges facing our country in sustainable development of rural areas, which is not feasible without improving the standard of living of the rural population and providing it with high-quality educational, cultural and information services.

The Activity of Petr Ivanovich Makushin in the Field of Librarianship and Public Education

The author considers the activity of bookseller and educator P.I. Makushin on the organization of public libraries, open general education courses and the People’s University in Tomsk. The aim of the article is to assess the contribution of the Siberian philanthropist not only to the development of the specific educational institutions, but also to the cultural and educational level of the entire Tomsk region in the late 19th-early 20th century. In 1873, P.I. Makushin left the service in church educational institutions and organized the bookselling enterprise in Tomsk. He provided with books not only shops, but also many educational institutions in the Tomsk province. In 1884, P.I. Makushin was directly involved in the opening in Tomsk of the first free people’s library in Russia, special building for which was built in 1887. The establishment of free rural libraries by P.I. Makushin in Tomsk province was of utmost importance in spreading knowledge in Siberia. For a long time, the philanthropist nurtured the idea of opening the first People’s University in Siberia. In 1905, he appealed with this proposal to the Tomsk city Duma, which supported his initiative and decided to allocate a land plot for the construction of the University on the Salt Square in Tomsk. The University building was constructed in 1912; and the official approval of the Charter of the Institution took place in 1916. The long time from the idea to the implementation of the project was connected with the obstacles arisen from the negligence of local officials and the reluctance of the Minister of public education L.A. Kasso to open another University in Tomsk. The First World War had a devastating impact on the life of the People’s University: from the second half of 1916, its building was used for the barracks of war prisoners; the work of the academic Department was episodic. In 1919, the University was nationalized, then various organizations housed the building, and its founder was almost without means of livelihood. Referring to the historiographical coverage of P.I. Makushin’s charitable activities, the author confidentcy concludes that Soviet historiography deliberately suppressed Makushin's contribution, like the contribution of many Russian entrepreneurs, to the development of intellectual sphere of certain regions; therefore, interest to this problem has largely intensified in recent decades.

Encouraging essential skills: How public libraries promote technological literacy in rural communities

Amid rapid technological change and shifting economic activities, the population of many rural British Columbia communities now requires greater development of digital skills. Today’s public libraries offer a range of digital services and, therefore, represent a significant resource for developing such skills. This study identifies the extent to which public libraries are promoting the development of technology skills in rural communities. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on technology program promotional messaging from rural public library websites in British Columbia. Results showed that these rural libraries are indeed promoting technology programs in a way that focuses on technology skill development as an emerging role. With that said, additional measures can be taken to further refine current messaging, and this study offers several recommendations towards that end.

RURAL LIBRARIES AS CONTESTED SPACES OF OLDER VOLUNTARISM IN AGING RURAL COMMUNITIES

Recent efforts to better understand voluntarism as fundamental to how rural communities are meeting the challenges of population ageing have highlighted ageing rural volunteers, and the attendant burden of older voluntarism, as key issues for ageing in place of rural residents and ageing rural community sustainability. Drawing on a case study of a volunteer-based rural library in Ontario, Canada, this study examines the experiences of older volunteers, the challenges of sustaining volunteer programs, and the implications of older voluntarism for rural community development. Findings from interviews and focus groups with library volunteers, staff, board members and community stakeholders demonstrate how the experiences of older volunteers and challenges of older voluntarism affect rural community development. The results reveal how participation, well-being, conflict and territoriality associated with older voluntarism contributes to ‘contested spaces of older voluntarism’ whereby older volunteers negotiate their rights and responsibilities associated with ageing and volunteering in rural communities.

PRODUCTIVE AND ACTIVE RURAL AGING: TOWARD CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES

Despite global trends in rural population ageing, relatively little attention within research and policy has been directed to understanding what it means for rural people, communities and institutions to be at the forefront of twenty-first century demographic change. To build understanding of rural ageing, this symposium draws together papers from four countries to provide insights in the gaps in rural ageing research – specifically the in context of productive and active rural ageing by examining rural work, retirement and volunteering through the critical perspectives of citizenship, contestation and complexity. Winterton and Warburton will explore how active citizenship trends among rural older adults support or hinder the capacity of rural settings to support health ageing. Colibaba and Skinner will discuss the contestation of rural ageing by examining a volunteer-based rural library and the emergent ‘contested spaces of older voluntarism’ whereby older volunteer negotiate their rights and responsibilities associated with ageing and volunteering in rural communities. Duvvury and Ni Leime will examine the interactions between the twin phenomena of feminisation of agriculture and the feminisation of ageing in the consequent implications for rural women’s work and retirement. Skinner and Joseph offer a critical perspective on voluntarism in ageing rural communities by examining volunteer leadership biographies as another means of understanding the contribution of older rural adults.

Understanding the reading habit and attitudes among the rural community in low literacy rate areas in Malaysia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reading habit and attitude among rural communities in the low literacy rate areas in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach Multi-stage cluster and simple random sampling were employed and 400 respondents who live nearby the rural library were selected. Findings Moderate levels of reading attitude were obtained from the result of the study, in which several variables produced a significant relationship in the reading attitude (education level, household income and time spent in reading). Practical implications Better understanding on the reading habit and attitude among rural communities could produce better information on the service provision towards the establishment of rural libraries in low literacy rate areas in Malaysia. This would also increase the utilisation of reading sources and services provided. Originality/value The paper provides better understanding on the reading habit and attitude among the rural communities in the low literacy rate areas in using the facilities provided by the rural libraries. The findings may be useful to the rural literacy and library development community in the developing countries.

РОЗВИТОК БІБЛІОТЕЧНОЇ ОСВІТИ В ТЕХНІКУМАХ І ШКОЛАХ ПОЛІТОСВІТИ В УКРАЇНІ У 1920–1940-Х РР.

У статті проаналізовано особливості становлення бібліотечної освіти у 1920–1940-х рр. Досліджено історичні, соціально-політичні та культурно-освітні чинники створення та розвитку середніх спеціальних навчальних закладів, що готували бібліотекарів у зазначений період. Вивчено специфіку формування та характер функціонування технікумів та шкіл політосвіти, на прикладах окремих навчальних закладів України. Проаналізовано значення їхньої діяльності для розвитку бібліотечної освіти та бібліотечної справи країни в цілому. The article analyzes peculiarities of the formation and development of a network of technical schools and schools of political education against the background of the formation of the secondary specialized library education system. In particular, the place and importance of the activity of political education schools and schools in the development of library education and training of middle-level specialists were studied. The purpose of the proposed article is to cover, on the background of the formation of secondary special library education in Ukraine in the 1920s and 1940s, the peculiarities of the creation, formation and importance of technical schools and schools of political education that trained middle-level library specialists in the development of professional education and library business, in general. Both general scientific research methods (description, comparison, analogy, deduction, induction, analysis, etc.) and historical (historical-comparative, historical-typological, chronological, etc.) are used in the work. It was revealed that in the 1920’s political schools and library schools were trained, first of all, by political agitators, cult and party workers, according to whom a curriculum was drawn up. The basic canons of library education in the Soviet era were the principles of: partisanship and communist education; formation of active politically conscious “fighters” of political education; domination of political literacy at the heart of humanitarian professional education; a combination of sociopolitical training and library knowledge in the development of applied professional skills and competencies. The ideological component in library education occupied a leading position. In the mid of 1930’s a system of secondary specialized library education was formed, which consisted of a number of specialized educational institutions – different types of technical schools where librarians were trained, in particular, from a network of separate political schools and colleges. These technical schools met the needs of library specialists in a particular area. It is proved that training of specialists in the studied technical schools became the basis of the librarians personnel resource with the middle level of qualification for book collections of different types (mainly for mass, in particular – rural libraries). The network of political and vocational colleges and schools was one of the links for the training of library specialists of secondary qualification, which trained qualified librarians for state mass, scientific and trade union book collections. The generalizations and conclusions of the article can serve as a base material for further studies on the history of secondary specialized libraries, and can be used in lectures in library colleges on a special course in the history of library education in Ukraine.

Developing Library Culture in Rural Areas by strengthening Community Information Services in Karnataka State: A Study

The public library has performed this role effectively and now it has penetrated into villages in the form of village libraries, rural information centres or grampanchayat libraries. There are 5766 numbers of gram panchayat libraries working in the state. As against 5766 number of grampanchayat, gram panchayat libraries have been established. But not much has happened in the grampanchayatlibraries , the library confined in one room in most of the gram panchayats and reading materials are only local language books , serials only magazine and newspapers, recent initatives by the public library dept. and rural development and panchayat raj to develop library culture among rural mass is gaining momentum and also a better result for this initative is coming up. This paper overviews the development happened and gap found and how to overcome with suitable measures.

FORMATION OF SECONDARY SPECIALIZED LIBRARIANSHIP EDUCATION IN UKRAINE IN THE 1920S – 1950S : FROM LIBRARY COURSES TO SPECIALIZED TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

In the article by Victor Sokolov «Formation of the secondary specialized library education in Ukraine in the 1920s–1950s: from library courses to specialized technical schools» the peculiarities of the formation of the system of secondary specialized librarianship institutions, the specifics of the formation and nature of the functioning of the training courses and technical schools, which prepared library specialists in Ukraine during the specified period. In particular, the place of activity of library colleges in the development of library education and library affairs in general, their importance in the training of specialists in the middle level of qualification was studied. The purpose of the article: to reveal the distinctive features, the main factors and stages of the formation and development of secondary specialized librarianship education in Ukraine in the 1920–1950’s; characterize varieties, peculiarities of creation and development of technical schools, which were prepared by library specialists of the middle level of qualification, especially – library colleges. In his work, the author widely used as general scientific methods of research (description, comparison, analogy, deduction, induction, analysis, etc.), as well as historical (historical-comparative, historical-typological, historical-diachronic, chronological) methods. It was found that in the second floor. 1930s. The system of secondary specialized library education was formed in the country, which consisted not only of training courses and retraining of specialists, but also of a number of special educational institutions – various types of technical schools and schools that were preparing librarians, in particular, from the network of separate library colleges. The specialty of librarians for various types of libraries has been successfully developed at the educational base of library, polytechnic, and cultural-technical colleges. For example, in the second floor 1940s – 1950s.. there was already a specialization in the library departments of Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa and Lviv cultural colleges for the preparation of library specialists for children’s and school bookshops. On the basis of the analysis of historical, socio-political, cultural and other factors, the peculiarities of the general development of secondary specialized librarianship and the formation of the corresponding educational institutions in Ukraine in the 1920–1950’s, the author proposed periodization of the formation and development of technical schools preparing at that time the library specialists. It was proved that in the 1950’s a clear network of secondary specialized schools was set up that trained qualified librarians for public, scientific, and trade union books. First of all, the indicated technical colleges met the needs of library specialists in a certain area. The training of specialists in the studied technical colleges became the basic basis of the personnel resource of librarians of the middle level of qualification for books of different types and types (mainly for mass, in particular – rural libraries). Summaries and conclusions of the article can serve as the basic material for further research on the history of the activity of secondary specialized librarianship institutions, and can also be used at lectures at library colleges on a special course on the history of library education in Ukraine.

Scenarios of technology use to promote community engagement: Overcoming marginalization and bridging digital divides in the Southern and Central Appalachian rural libraries

This article identifies scenarios of technology use in rural libraries to promote community engagement in overcoming marginalization and bridging rural digital divides in the Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA) region. The research is based on a qualitative content analysis of feedback collected from 15 rural librarians in semi-structured interviews and three respondents each in five focus groups during 2017–2018. Select scenarios defined as typical experience-related representative narratives of technology use of rural librarians serve as a tool to investigate their community-engaged initiatives. Respondents’ perspectives, behaviors, and experiences of technology use in community engagement selectively highlight their activities, collaborating partners, encountered challenges specific to the region, and the resulting outcomes of their initiatives. The article extends past theory-practice discourse in information science research to integrate impact that was documented in respondents’ community-engaged technology use behaviors in the SCA rural environments. It explores a positive model of technology use and community engagement in the SCA rural libraries as a strategy to overcome marginalization and bridge rural digital divides historically experienced in the region.

Rural Public Library Outreach Services and Elder Users: A Case Study of the Washington County (VA) Public Library

ABSTRACT Outreach services provided by rural public libraries are crucial to fulfilling their mission to provide information access to the widest array of user groups. Particular socioeconomic and geographic factors in rural areas present challenges of access to information resources, yet there exists only a limited amount of published scholarly work examining outreach services provided specifically by rural public libraries. This case study of outreach services to elder users offers contextual evidence for the centrality of social equity and access to the larger work of rural public libraries. Primary data were collected through four semi-structured focus group meetings conducted with elder users of the agency’s outreach services as well as through narrative interviews with six agency staff members. Principal findings showed that elder users had particular information needs related to entertainment and intellectual stimulation, challenges of transportation, and a limited access to technology and internet service. WCPL outreach services were found to positively impact the lives and general well-being of elder users by providing vital social and community connections and serving as a key link for elder users to an institution understood to be central to the life of the community in general.

Scenarios of Health Engagement Experiences and Health Justice in Rural Libraries

This article documents scenarios or narratives of health engagement experiences in rural libraries based on qualitative analysis of feedback collected from 15 rural librarians in the Southern and Central Appalachian (SCA) region during semi-structured interviews conducted in 2017-2018. The article focuses on respondents’ perspectives of the “aboutness” of their health-related engagement, collaborating partners, encountered challenges, and resulting outcomes. Scenarios were documented in broader interviews that focused on specific health activities and community engagement in 11 domains, including agriculture, diversity, economy, education, environment, government, health, law, manufacturing, social welfare, and other. The research forms part of a planning grant entitled “Assessment of Rural Library Professionals’ Role in Community Engagement in the Southern and Central Appalachian Region: Mobilization from Change Agents to Community Anchors (CA2CA@SCA-RL)” awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the University of Tennessee, sub-contracted to the University of Alabama this year (July 2017 – June 2019). Scenarios provide a taxonomic classification of health-related programs relevant to the region and a framework of practice related to their implementation. As a health justice tool, they also challenge the hegemonic imagination of mainstream American society, news media, and popular culture that has only presented the SCA rural belt in deficit light. The article becomes a counter-point to these past unfair and marginalizing representations in its constructive asset recognition of the SCA rural librarians’ positive examples of health-related experiences. It spotlights the “invisible” of SCA librarians’ individual/community empowerment as change agents making an impact on the lives of their rural residents.

The Role of Libraries in Organizing and Conducting Leisure Activities for Children and Youth in the Stalingrad Region in the Period of 1945 through the early 1950-ies

The article examines the conditions, tasks and main trends of the libraries in the Stalingrad region in the post-war period (1945 — early 1950s). Materials of periodicals and local history publications, as well as reporting materials related to the work of libraries in the specified period serve as a sourse base for the study.In the context of the revival of Stalingrad and the Stalingrad region, the priorities for the state and society were those aimed at restoring the socio-economic potential and the cultural sector. The author emphasizes that, in this development vector, an important aspect of the activities of cultural institutions was organization of leisure activities for children and youth.Libraries of the region were among the first cultural organizations that began to open their doors after the battle of Stalingrad and the end of the Great Patriotic War, so they had to carry out extensive political, mass, cultural and educational work for the population, including children and youth.In the wake of the devastation of the entire socio-cultural sphere and infrastructure of the city and the region, the poor resource base of educational and cultural institutions, it was important to create conditions for adaptation to peaceful circumstances, to counteract child homelessness, to unite the creative forces of young people and to increase their cultural and educational level. Urban and rural libraries, reading rooms and libraries at clubs become actively involved in solving socially significant problems through various forms, methods and means of organizing children’s and youth leisure and recreation.For the first time in a long time, libraries began to organize holidays and recitals, open readings of fiction for schoolchildren, and meetings with visiting and local cultural figures for young people. The important place in the leisure of young people was given to self-education and improving the culture of reading, that emphasized the special importance of the library as a centre of knowledge and a model of preservation of cultural norms.The author concludes that libraries have played a major role in the organization of leisure of children and youth, and their activities served as an important auxiliary resource of party cells and public organizations to restore the entire cultural sector of the city and region.

A Model of Community-Engaged Scholarship Across “Institutional Borders” to Assess the Role of Rural Libraries in Community Engagement in the Southern and Central Appalachia

The paper explores a model of community-engaged scholarship developed in a planning grant entitled “Assessment of Rural Library Professionals’ Role in Community Engagement in the Southern and Central Appalachian Region: Mobilization from Change Agents to Community Anchors (CA2CA@SCA-RL)” awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the University of Tennessee, recently sub-contracted to the University of Alabama (July 2017 – June 2019). It provides insights bridging “institutional borders” at multiple levels to spotlight “invisible voices” of rural librarians and glimpses best practices in community engagement that might be relevant to other rural areas historically facing similarly challenging socio-cultural/socio-economic circumstances.

The digital inclusion role of rural libraries: social inequalities through space and place

A great deal of scholarship on broadband deployment and federal policies has positioned rural America through a deficit framework: rural parts of the country have older populations (and therefore not tech savvy), are poor (and therefore justifiably ignored by the market), too remote (therefore outside of legitimate profit-making enterprise), and losing population (and therefore significance). This research examines rural Internet connectivity through the lens of local libraries lending hotspots for Internet connectivity. Qualitative data gathered in 24 rural communities in Kansas and Maine undercut simplistic notions regarding how communication systems operate in environments ignored by normative market operations. Financial precarity and pressures from social and economic institutions compel rurally based individuals and families to assemble piecemeal Internet presence and connectivity. The public library plays a crucial role in providing Internet resources and stands out in the rural environment as a site that straddles public trust and local.

Educating Peasants: the Beibei Public Library in Light of Chinese Rural Reconstruction, 1928–1950

Abstract The Beibei Public Library (1928–1950) dedicated itself to social education in the rural areas of Chongqing. Examining this library in light of rural reconstruction, this study considers how libraries are affected by the attitudes and behaviors of social elites, officials, government policies, wars, conventional thinking etc. The Beibei Public Library is studied in terms of three aspects: indoor service, itinerant libraries, and additional services. Moreover, this study examines how librarians catered to peasants’ needs, promoted knowledge dissemination, and helped mold new lifestyles in rural China. This case study contributes to research on Chinese rural libraries in the first half of the twentieth century.