Rural public libraries represented 4,013 of the 9,045 public-library systems counted in fiscal year (FY) 2017. Those systems served 30,000,911 people through 6,178 points of service, while reporting 14,214.5 full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff and 117,344,516 visits. The figures below come from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and describe the specific FY2008 and FY2017 measurement periods; they are not current estimates.
Contents
- Rural library systems and population reach
- Locations and points of service
- Staffing capacity
- Collections and formats
- Visits and programs
- Internet computers and Wi-Fi
Rural library systems and population reach
The IMLS State Detail Tables: Rural Libraries in America counted 4,013 rural public-library systems in FY2017, compared with 9,045 public-library systems nationwide in the table. Rural systems therefore represented 44.4% of the systems counted. Their service areas covered 30,000,911 people, while non-rural systems served 282,655,814 people. Rural service areas accounted for 9.6% of the population served by public-library systems in that FY2017 table. (IMLS, State Detail Tables: Rural Libraries in America)
The population reach varied considerably by state. Alaska rural library systems served 89,078 people in FY2017. Iowa rural systems served 676,443 people, and Maine rural systems served 480,768 people. These are state-level rural-system totals for FY2017, not population estimates for every rural resident or for every library location.
| FY2017 rural-library measure | Count |
|---|---|
| Rural public-library systems | 4,013 |
| Rural population served | 30,000,911 |
| Rural points of service | 6,178 |
| Rural visits | 117,344,516 |
| Rural staff | 14,214.5 FTE |
The system count and the population count answer different questions. A large share of the systems in the national table was rural, but the rural systems’ combined service population was a much smaller share of the population served by all public-library systems. That distinction matters when comparing organizational scale with the number of communities and service areas involved.
Locations and points of service
Rural areas contained 6,178 public-library points of service in FY2017. Non-rural areas contained 10,999, for 17,177 points of service counted across the table. Rural points of service made up 36.0% of that total. (IMLS, State Detail Tables: Rural Libraries in America)
The rural total included 3,782 central libraries and 2,284 branch libraries. The IMLS rural-area breakdown also identified 927 points of service in fringe rural areas, 3,102 in distant rural areas, and 2,149 in remote rural areas. Those categories show that “rural” included several degrees of geographic distance and isolation in the FY2017 tables.
Because these are points of service, they should not be read as a count of unique library systems. A single system can operate more than one location, and the central-library and branch-library counts describe locations within the rural service-area totals. The geography is therefore useful for understanding physical reach, but it does not by itself measure travel distance, opening hours, or the number of residents using each location.
Staffing capacity
Rural public-library systems reported 14,214.5 FTE staff in FY2017. Non-rural systems reported 127,916.2 FTE staff. On a population-served basis, rural systems averaged 11.85 staff FTEs per 25,000 people, compared with 11.31 staff FTEs per 25,000 people in non-rural systems. (IMLS, State Detail Tables: Rural Libraries in America)
The per-population figures do not mean that rural libraries had larger payrolls or larger teams overall. They describe staffing relative to the people served. Rural systems served fewer people on average, so a similar staffing rate per 25,000 people can coexist with small local staffs and limited operating capacity.
In FY2017, 1,555 rural systems had one FTE staff member. Those one-FTE systems made up 38.7% of rural systems. This provides a clearer picture of the staffing distribution than the overall rural average alone: many rural systems operated with a single FTE position, even though the combined rural total included larger systems.
State averages also differed. Kansas rural systems averaged 27.37 staff FTEs per 25,000 people served in FY2017, while Nebraska rural systems averaged 25.58. These state figures are rural-system averages for FY2017 and should not be generalized to every library in either state.
Collections and formats
Rural collections changed substantially across the reported FY2008-to-FY2017 period, although the measures are reported in thousands of items. Rural systems held 121,901 thousand books in FY2008 and 100,133 thousand books in FY2017. Over the same periods, rural systems held 4,118 thousand e-books in FY2008 and 154,453 thousand e-books in FY2017. (IMLS, State Detail Tables: Rural Libraries in America)
Downloadable audio items increased from 6,486 thousand in FY2008 to 65,246 thousand in FY2017. Rural systems held 4,223 thousand physical audio items in FY2017. Downloadable video items rose from 7,363 thousand in FY2008 to 8,976 thousand in FY2017. Physical video items were reported at 2,024 thousand in FY2008 and 8,976 thousand in FY2017.
| Rural collection format | FY2008 | FY2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Books | 121,901 thousand | 100,133 thousand |
| E-books | 4,118 thousand | 154,453 thousand |
| Downloadable audio | 6,486 thousand | 65,246 thousand |
| Downloadable video | 7,363 thousand | 8,976 thousand |
| Physical video | 2,024 thousand | 8,976 thousand |
The source reports these collection measures as counts of items, not circulation totals. They also cover different formats with different reporting periods, so the figures should be used to describe collection composition and reported holdings rather than to infer borrowing frequency.
State-level figures illustrate the range. Iowa rural systems held 10,595 thousand e-books in FY2017, while Kansas rural systems held 23,955 thousand. Minnesota rural systems held 1,133 thousand e-books in FY2008 and 2,114 thousand in FY2017. These values are reported holdings for the rural systems in each state, not per-library averages.
Visits and programs
Rural public libraries recorded 117,344,516 visits in FY2017. The IMLS comparison found that rural libraries had the largest increase in programs offered per 1,000 people from FY2008 to FY2017, at 60.5%. The rate is a change over that nine-fiscal-year span, not a forecast of future program growth. (IMLS, State Detail Tables: Rural Libraries in America)
Program activity differed across state rural systems. New Jersey rural systems offered 2,073 programs and recorded 27,992 program attendees in FY2017. South Dakota rural systems offered 9,159 programs and recorded 146,137 attendees. Vermont rural systems offered 15,879 programs and recorded 212,122 attendees. Wyoming rural systems offered 6,781 programs. (IMLS, Public Libraries in the United States, Fiscal Year 2017: Volume II)
These counts are not directly interchangeable with attendance rates because the supplied state figures do not provide a common population denominator or attendance count for every state. A program total describes activity offered; an attendee total describes recorded participation. Neither one alone measures program quality, repeat attendance, or the share of residents reached.
Internet computers and Wi-Fi
Rural systems reported 46,166 public-access internet computers in FY2017, up from 40,789 in FY2008. The reported increase was 13.2% between those fiscal years. At the same time, rural library internet-computer user sessions fell from 38,695,013 in FY2008 to 23,538,215 in FY2017, a reported decrease of 39.2%. (IMLS, State Detail Tables: Rural Libraries in America)
In FY2017, internet-computer user sessions accounted for 20.1% of rural-library visits. Rural libraries also recorded 33,636,141 Wi-Fi sessions, equal to 28.7% of rural-library visits. The two measures represent different forms of access: computer sessions concern public-access computers, while Wi-Fi sessions concern wireless connectivity recorded by the libraries.
North Dakota rural systems recorded 612,222 Wi-Fi sessions in FY2017. Those sessions equaled 168.9% of their FY2017 visits. A ratio above 100% can occur when the session measure counts multiple wireless connections or sessions associated with visits; it should not be interpreted as 168.9% of unique residents using Wi-Fi. The reported figure is a comparison of recorded Wi-Fi sessions with recorded visits for the same FY2017 rural systems.
Taken together, the FY2008 and FY2017 figures show a rural-library network with broad physical reach, small-staffed systems, expanding reported digital collections, and continuing demand for connectivity. The measurements are historical and limited to the definitions and reporting coverage used in the IMLS tables for those fiscal years.