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Changes in Rural Libraries and Librarianship: A Comparative Survey

Robert Flatley a; Andrea Wyman b
a
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown, Pennsylvania, USA b Edinboro University of Pennsylvania,
Edinboro, Pennsylvania, USA

Online Publication Date: 01 January 2009

To cite this Article Flatley, Robert and Wyman, Andrea(2009)'Changes in Rural Libraries and Librarianship: A Comparative
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 Public Library Quarterly, 28:24–39, 2009
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0161-6846 print / 1541-1540 online
DOI: 10.1080/01616840802675283

Changes in Rural Libraries and Librarianship: A

Comparative Survey

ROBERT FLATLEY
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown, Pennsylvania, USA
ANDREA WYMAN
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, Pennsylvania, USA
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This article offers a repeat of a 2000 survey of rural librarians and

how they view librarianship, libraries, and the future of both. The
purpose of the 2007 survey was to look for changes and ask
questions about community partnerships, staffing, and financial
information. The researchers found many similarities between the
surveys but a number of distinct changes in behavior and
attitudes emerged. These included the shift towards viewing the
library as more of a service than a repository of materials,
increased dissatisfaction with pay and economic issues; an
increase in MLS degree holders; and a trend towards the library
being viewed as less vital to the community. The 2007 results
showed that almost half of rural libraries engage in community
partnerships and that the average rural librarian earns less than
$12/hour and has an operating budget of less than $30,000. The
changes and results are analyzed along with suggestions for future
research.
KEYWORDS surveys, future, changes, rural, libraries,
librarianship

INTRODUCTION
Public libraries wanting to remain viable in today’s fast-paced, service-
oriented society are faced with meeting the challenge of embracing and

Address correspondence to Robert Flatley, Rohrbach Library, Kutztown University, 15200

Kutztown Rd, Kutztown, PA 19530. E-mail: flatley@kutztown.edu

24
 Rural Library Survey 25

staying on the cutting edge of technology. The small, rural public library
faces an even more difficult challenge because studies over the last 15 years
have shown that these libraries often have fewer staff, fewer resources, and
more limited budgets for modernizing their technology (Marcus, 1999).
An initial study characterizing the role of the public librarian in the small
public library was conducted by Robert Flatley in 2000. That study provided
the first baseline for reflecting on-the-job satisfaction levels of librarians
working in America’s rural libraries. By asking ‘‘how do rural librarians view
librarianship, libraries, and the future of the public library?’’ he was able to
determine whether or not librarians viewed themselves and their profes-
sional positions with confidence and could be optimistic about the future
(Flatley, 2000 p. 2). His findings support only a portion of an original
prediction suggested by Vavrek (1993) that librarians were unble to face the
challenges because of a lack of confidence about their own importance
within their own ranks.
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Returning to the original format of the study in 2000, researchers Robert

Flatley and Andrea Wyman decided to revisit the topic of characterizing the
role of the public librarian and focus once again on the small public rural
library population. It is worth noting that there continues to be a dearth of
material on this subject.

METHODOLOGY
For this study as in the 2000 study, we chose to define rural as libraries
serving populations of 2,500 or less. This definition of rural was chosen
because very little research has been done specifically on libraries and
librarians that serve communities of 2,500 or less.
The 2000 survey was printed and mailed to 441 rural libraries. The
libraries in the 2000 survey were chosen randomly from the United States
Department of Education’s booklet ‘‘Public Libraries in the United States.’’
The decision was made this time to do a web-based survey for the following
reasons 1) cost savings; 2) convenience; and 3) the ability to collect and
tabulate results electronically. This choice had its positives but did create
some problems. Foremost a number of very small libraries did not have
websites and/or email addresses and were therefore not included. We did
not anticipate this. Instead we were under the assumption that with free
email services that all libraries would have email access. This forced us to
skip those libraries in our random sampling choosing the next library on the
list that had an email address.
For the most part the 2007 survey mirrored the 2000 one thus affording
ready comparison. The major change was the addition of two fiscal
questions asking about pay rate and library budget. The survey was created
using Zoomerang, an online survey management tool (www.zoomerang.com)
 26 R. Flatley and A. Wyman

that affords a simple and straightforward way to create professional looking

web-based surveys.
Surveys were e-mailed to 761 rural libraries throughout the United States.
The researchers used the National Center for Education Statistics Library
Statistics Program web site. This site provides useful data files that researchers
can download free of charge. We downloaded the most recent Public Library
Data File (2003) as an Access file (available at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/
libraries/pub_data.asp). A student manipulated the data and exported all
libraries with service populations of 2,500 or less into an Excel spreadsheet.
We sorted the libraries by population served and then proceeded to contact
every fourth library on the list. Although the Public Library Data File is very
useful, it does not include a category for an e-mail address. This omission
necessitated locating e-mail addresses via individual library web searches. A
valuable tool in locating the correct library was lib-web-cat’s Public Libraries in
the United States database (available at www.librarytechnology.org/
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uspubliclibraries.pl). Students looked up the libraries and e-mailed surveys

during the fall semester of the 2006–2007 academic year.

RESULTS
A total of 761 surveys were e-mailed. Three hundred and thirty six surveys
were completed (a 44% return rate). In 2000, a total of 441 surveys were
mailed. Two hundred thirty two surveys were completed, a 53% return rate
(Flatley, 2000, p. 9).
The first set of questions asked respondents about librarianship. The
first question asked how long they had been a librarian. The most common
answer was ‘‘more than 10 years’’ (47%), followed by ‘‘1–5 years’’ (25%), and
‘‘6–10 years’’ (22%). Only 6% of the respondents indicated they had worked
at the library for less than one year. These tenure times differed from the
2000 survey in which 40% of librarians indicated that they had worked in the
profession for more than ten years followed by 27% indicating that they had
worked ‘‘6–10 years.’’ These figures mirror the results of a survey taken in
2006 indicating that more experienced librarians would be moving toward
retirement over the next 15+ years (Hot stuff and other things, 2007).
In question 2, the librarians were asked why they chose to take
membership in this profession. Table 1 below summarizes and compares the
results.
As can be seen from the results, the most popular answer was still
‘‘I enjoy working with books.’’ Although this answer fell from almost one half
to one third of the respondents, most surprising, in this era of omnipresent
and more sophisticated technology over seven years ago, was the fact that
the percentage responding, ‘‘Enjoy working with technology,’’ was almost
unchanged.
 Rural Library Survey 27

TABLE 1 Reasons Given for Choosing a Career in Librarianship

Reasons 2007 2000

Relative/Friend was/is a librarian 1% 7%
Enjoy working with people 17% 22%
Enjoy working with books 33% 46%
Enjoy working with technology 3% 2%
Wanted to get more involved with community 9% 8%
Other 18% 15%

After reviewing comments for this question, librarians responded that

‘‘choice’’ about being a librarian was often overshadowed by ‘‘need’’ to work
or the ‘‘need to have a job.’’ Another familiar comment from this section was
that many librarians simply moved into the role of librarian due to a position
opening up or because the job of librarian was the only job available that
involved some degree of upward mobility.
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In question 3, the respondents were asked about what they feel is their
most important role as a librarian. Table 2 summarizes and compares the
responses.
The most popular response from both surveys was ‘‘helping people.’’
The second most common response, ‘‘information provider,’’ increased to
34% in 2007 from 25% in 2000 (Flatley, 2000, p. 10).
The overwhelming comment responses from librarians was that ‘‘All of
the above’’ roles were important for a librarian, with a few of the librarians
describing the importance of equal weighting of the job duties. A few of the
respondents went so far as to describe the importance of ‘‘building
community’’ or ‘‘creating community’’ as another important aspect of a
librarian’s role.
In question 4, the librarians were asked to characterize their work. A
series of descriptive terms such as challenging, flexible, stressful, and
intellectually stimulating were chosen. The respondents were asked whether
the terms characterized their work on an Agree or Disagree response.
Table 3 below summarizes the results.
As can be seen in Table 3, rural librarians consistently found their work
to be rewarding, service-oriented, and intellectually stimulating. The areas of

TABLE 2 Most Important Role as a Librarian

Role 2007 2000

Information provider 34% 25%
Helping people 44% 46%
Collecting and organizing library materials 5% 4%
Promoting libraries and library services 13% 17%
Other 4% 9%
 28 R. Flatley and A. Wyman

TABLE 3 Degree to Which Librarians Agree that Description Characterizes Library Work (In
Percent)

Description 2007 2000 2007 2000 2007 2000

Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Somewhat Somewhat
Challenging 77 75 2 1 21 23
Dynamic 57 38 6 11 37 51
Flexible 68 67 5 4 27 29
Repetitive 23 24 23 27 54 49
Rewarding 90 92 1 0 10 8
Service-oriented 96 92 1 1 3 7
Stressful 26 22 23 29 51 48
Technological 74 58 3 8 23 34
Intellectually 78 73 2 3 20 22
Stimulating
Lots of Recognition 14 17 33 30 53 53
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significant change between the two surveys include ‘‘Dynamic’’ (19 point
increase in 2007) and ‘‘Technological’’ (16 point increase in 2007).
In question 5, the question of low pay is addressed. Librarians have
historically been underpaid compared to other professions (Manley, 2002).
Boyer (1987) believes that the relatively low salaries are due to the fact that
the public ‘‘holds an unfavorable and unrealistic view of librarians and
libraries’’ (p. 2). What should disturb librarians is the fact that what people
think ‘‘not only limits our status and salaries but also the growth of our
profession and the funding and use of libraries’’ (Schuman 1990, 87). Table 4
summarizes the results.
As can be seen from Table 4, the most common response from both
surveys was ‘‘the community lacks funds.’’ That was followed by
‘‘Historically a female-dominated profession’’ (45%; 2007 survey only).
Interestingly, when question 5 comments were reviewed, it became
apparent that the respondents expanded on the initial survey response
opportunities. The components of ‘‘worth’’ and ‘‘value’’ were phrases used to
verify that librarians have been historically underpaid. This is similar to a
point made by Will Manley in a 2002 article regarding underpaid librarians
in American Libraries when he states that ‘‘People think we’re either

TABLE 4 Why Have Librarians Historically Been Underpaid?

Reason 2007 2000

The public does not value librarians 36% 33%
The community lacks funds 53% 46%
Library services are not essential 17% 11%
Historically a female-dominated profession 45% *
Other reasons 14% 10%
* not asked in 2000 survey.
 Rural Library Survey 29

book-readers, book-stampers, or book-shelvers (Manley, 2002 p. 92).

Librarians from the 2007 survey also commented that because librarians
are working in government positions, the general population does not value
or understand what they do.
In question 6, the respondents were asked to rate their overall job
satisfaction. The results are summarized in Table 5.
As can be seen, job satisfaction was rated highly and stayed similar
between the surveys.
In question 7, respondents were asked whether they planned to remain
librarians for the remainder of their worklife. Sixty-six percent of the
respondents in 2007 answered ‘‘yes’’ to this question compared to 56% in
2000. The results are summarized in Table 6.
Respondents who commented negatively said that they did not see
themselves remaining in the library because their work was part-time and
they needed a position that offered more time and also one that paid more
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and included benefits. Two librarians mentioned burnout as a reason not to

remain a librarian.
In question 8, the librarians were asked what aspect of their job they
liked the most. Table 7 summarizes the data:

TABLE 5 Job Satisfaction

2007 2000
Very Satisfied 59% 64%
Somewhat Satisfied 38% 27%
Somewhat Dissatisfied 3% 10%
Very Dissatisfied 0% 0%

TABLE 6 Do You Plan to Remain a Librarian?

2007 2000
Yes 66% 56%
No 7% 12%
Not Sure 26% 32%

TABLE 7 What Librarians Like Most About Their Job

2007 2000
Working with books 18% 15%
Opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life 33% 33%
Interacting with the community 38% 45%
Other 11% 8%
 30 R. Flatley and A. Wyman

The most popular answer from both surveys was ‘‘Interacting with the
community’’ followed by ‘‘the opportunity to make a difference in
someone’s life.’’ This contrasts with the information gathered in question 2
where the librarians were asked why they chose to enter the profession. The
most popular answer was ‘‘I enjoy working with books.’’
In question 9, the respondents were asked what they liked least about
being a librarian. Table 8 summarizes the data.
Surprisingly ‘‘low pay’’ was not the most common complaint; instead,
lack of funds to buy new materials was the number one complaint in both
surveys. It should be noted that the gap between these two responses closed
between the surveys with 6% more complaining of low pay and 9% less
complaining of lack of funds. This finding also corresponds with responses
from Icelandic librarians surveyed in 2002 (Wyman, 2008).
In the second set of questions (10–13) respondents were asked about
the role of the public librarian in the community. Question 10 queried the
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librarians as to whether or not they felt that they should take an active role in
their community’s economic development. The results are summarized
below in Table 9.
The data shows a definite shift in attitude with regards to librarian
involvement in economic development. Fify percent of respondents in 2007
answered in the affirmative compared to 34% in 2000.
In question 11, the librarians were asked if they felt that part of their role
as a public librarian was to be involved in the community. Table 10
summarizes the responses.

TABLE 8 Librarians Primary Complaint

Complaint 2007 2000

Repetitive 1% 3%
No respect from the community 2% 3%
Not enough money to buy new materials or technology 29% 38%
Low pay 27% 21%
Constantly changing technology 9% *
New laws and regulations 6% *
No complaints 14% 20%
Other 12% 16%

TABLE 9 Should Librarians Take an Active Role in the Community’s Economic Development?

2007 2000
Yes 50% 34%
No 8% 13%
Somewhat 42% 53%
 Rural Library Survey 31

TABLE 10 Do You Feel That Part of Your Role as a Public Librarian is to Be:

Role 2007 2000

A community leader? 79% 72%
A role model to young people? 96% 93%
Involved in community affairs and planning? 83% 79%
A member of various community organizations? 68% 62%

As can be seen from the results, the majority of rural librarians agreed with
all four statements in both surveys with slight increases in the 2007 survey.
The last two questions of this section dealt with whether or not the
librarians felt their libraries contributed to the community and if they felt
the community valued and respected what they do. In question 13, the
researchers asked a series of questions about how the library contributes to
the community. Table 11 summarizes the data.
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The most striking thing about the data is that the percentage of
librarians in agreement to all the statements have decreased from 2000 to
2007 with the largest decrease being agreeing to the statement that your
library ‘‘has made a difference in people’s lives’’ (an 11-point drop).
In question 12, the librarians were asked if they felt their communities
valued what they did. The results are summarized in Table 12.
The results are split between Yes and Somewhat, with slightly more
librarians indicating Yes (52%) in 2007 than in 2000 (47%).
In the next section of the survey, a series of statements were made
about librarians and libraries. The respondents were asked to indicate
whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement or were not sure. The

TABLE 11 Contributes to Community - Percent in Agreement

2007 2000
Contributes to making life better in your community? 92% 98%
Contributes to the economy in your community? 39% 47%
Has made a difference in people’s lives? 88% 99%
Plays a vital role in your community? 80% 88%

TABLE 12 Does the Community Respect and Value what Librarians Do?

2007 2000
Yes 52% 47%
No 4% 6%
Somewhat 44% 46%
 32 R. Flatley and A. Wyman

TABLE 13 Percent in Agreement with Statement

2007 2000
1 Librarians enjoy working more with books than technology 40% 46%
2 Librarians need to embrace technology and make it the focus 36% 26%
of their profession
3 The media stereotypes librarians negatively 45% 32%
4 Assertiveness and excellent communication skills are essential 89% 87%
to being an effective librarian
5 Information manager is a more apt title for the 21st century 60% 62%
librarian.
6 Librarians are community leaders. 65% 62%
7 The library exists primarily to provide books and other 34% 55%
materials to its patrons.
8 Librarians need to be more aggressive in marketing the 84% 79%
services they provide.
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researcher attempted to choose statements that were controversial. Table 13

lists the statements and summarizes the responses.
The most significant changes included the percentage of librarians in
agreement with statement 7 (21% decrease); statement 3 (12% increase); and
statement 2 (10% increase).
The challenge of the Internet to the future of librarianship and libraries
was the focus of the next set of statements. Table 14 lists the statements and
summarizes the responses:

TABLE 14 The Challenge of the Internet - Percent Answering ‘‘Yes’’

2007 2000
Do you think the continued growth of the Internet will make:
1 Physical libraries less important in the future? 10% 16%
2 Do you feel that fewer people are using the library because they 39% 32%
can get their information at home using the Internet?
3 Do you worry that your job may become obsolete because of 8% 5%
advances in technology?
4 Would you encourage your children or a young person to 74% 68%
pursue librarianship as a career?
5 In the future, do you feel the library will be more important or 44% 34%
less important to society? (% answering ‘‘More Important’’)

As can be seen in Table 14, the percentage of librarians answering ‘‘Yes’’ to

the statements increased in all cases with one exception: the percentage of
librarians who felt that the continued growth of the Internet would make
physical libraries less important decreased by 6%. The statement showing
the greatest change from 2000 to 2007 was the percentage of librarians who
felt that libraries would be more important to society in the future (an
increase of 10%, from 34% to 44%).
 Rural Library Survey 33

TABLE 15 Greatest Challenge Facing Libraries

2007 2000
Funding 70% 63%
Community Involvement 12% 17%
Competition from the Internet 10% 15%
Other 7% 5%

In question 16, the librarians were asked what they thought was the
greatest challenge facing libraries. Table 15 summarizes the results.
Funding continues to be the greatest concern of rural librarians (70%).
This marks a 7% increase from the 2000 survey.
In the final set of questions, the respondents were asked to provide
information about their age, gender and educational level. Not surprisingly,
almost all the respondents were female (98%). Most were between the ages
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of 40–59 (67%), 22% indicated they were over 60, and only 10% were
between the ages of 20–39. This data compares similarly to the 2000 survey.
In question 28, the librarians were asked to specify their highest level of
education attained. Table 16 summarizes the results.
As can be seen from Table 16, the most common level of educational
attainment in 2007 was a Bachelor’s degree (32%) compared to a High
School Diploma (29%) in 2000. In fact, the percentage of librarians claiming
a High School Diploma as their highest level of education fell by 18%, the
most significant drop of the categories. Another significant area of change
was the number of rural librarians who reported having the MLS degree. This
increased 10% from 4% in 2000 to 14% in 2007.

2007 SURVEY QUESTIONS

The last group of questions are new to the 2007 survey. We felt that the 2000
survey neglected questions about community partnerships, staffing, and
financial information. The first new question asked if the library had any

TABLE 16 Highest Level of Education Attained

2007 2000
Less than High School 0% 0%
High School diploma 11% 29%
Some college 26% 26%
Associate degree 9% 4%
Bachelor’s degree 32% 23%
MLS Degree 14% 4%
Master’s Degree 7% 12%
Doctoral Degree 1% 0%
 34 R. Flatley and A. Wyman

partnerships with other local organizations. Forty three percent of

respondents answered in the affirmative. Examples of partnerships included:

Example of Partnerships Number of Responses

Schools/homeschoolers/daycare centers 58
Civic groups (Rotary, Lions, PTO) 17
Local Government 16
Chamber of Commerce 14
Historical Society 12
Headstart 8
Youth groups 7
Senior groups 7
Literacy and GED Groups 6
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TABLE 17 Staffing at Rural Libraries

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Number of paid staff 18% 32% 22% 13% 8% 5% 1% 1% 0% 2%
Full time 80% 16% 3% 1% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 1%
Part time 30% 33% 18% 11% 5% 1% 0% 1% 1% 1%
Volunteers 37% 19% 15% 6% 6% 4% 3% 1% 0% 9%

The next two questions asked about staffing. In question 23, the
librarians were asked how may staff work at their library. Table 17
summarizes the results.
As can be seen from Table 17, most rural libraries (80%) have one full-
time paid staff person and rely a great deal on part-time help and volunteers.
Question 24 asked how many hours per week volunteers typically worked.
Table 18 summarizes the results:

TABLE 18 Number of Hours Per Week Worked by Volunteers

Less than 5 58%

5–10 hrs 22%
10–15 hrs 9%
15–20 hrs 4%
20–25 hrs 3%
25–30 hrs 1%

The majority of volunteers work 5 hours or less (58%).

The last group of new questions focused on financial data specifically
how much rural librarians are paid and operating budgets. The two questions
as originally formulated proved to be problematic. For example, the question
on hourly pay rate had a range from $5.25 up to ‘‘above $14.’’ What we found
 Rural Library Survey 35

TABLE 19 Hourly Pay Rate

Less than $6 3%
$6.01–6.99 3%
$7–7.99 5%
$8–8.99 8%
$9–9.99 10%
$10–10.99 21%
$11–11.99 12%
$12–12.99 10%
$13–13.99 8%
$14–14.99 6%
$15–15.99 5%
$16–16.99 3%
$17–17.99 2%
$18–18.99 1%
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was that a significant percentage (24%) were grouped in the last category. The
same proved to be true for our question on the library’s annual operating
budget (excluding salaries). Our range went from ‘‘less than $1000’’ to ‘‘more
than $10,000.’’ Again we found a significant percentage of our respondents
(68%) answered in the last category. This led us to revise the two questions by
expanding the categories upward. The revised questions were sent as a mini
follow-up survey to the original survey. This had the detrimental effect of
reducing our response rate from 321 (original survey questions) to 120
(revised questions) however we feel that our data is more useful. A summary
of the data for the revised questions are included in Table 19 and Table 20.
The most common hourly pay rate was between $10–$11 (21%). This was
followed by $11–$12 (12%). Only 11% of rural librarians earn over $15/hour.
The most common annual operating budget for rural libraries was
‘‘$10,000–$20,000’’ (19%). This was followed by both ‘‘$5,000–$10,000’’

TABLE 20 Library’s Annual 0perating Budget (Excluding Salaries)

Less than $5000 4%

$5000–10,000 18%
$10,000–20,000 19%
$20,000–30,000 18%
$30,000–40,000 9%
$40,000–50,000 11%
$50,000–60,000 7%
$60,000–70,000 3%
$70,000–80,000 2%
$80,000–90,000 6%
$90,000–100,000 0%
$100,000–110,000 3%
$110,000–120,000 1%
 36 R. Flatley and A. Wyman

(18%) and ‘‘$20,000–$30,000’’ (18%). Only 10% of rural libraries had annual
operating budgets exceeding $80,000.

DISCUSSION
The purpose of this survey was twofold: 1) to learn how rural librarians view
librarianship and libraries and the future of both and 2) to examine changes
in these areas over the last seven years. Librarians serving communities of
2,500 or less were chosen because their voices are seldom heard in the
library literature. A total of 761 surveys were mailed out. 336 were analyzed.
The majority of the respondents were women between the ages of 40–59.
The researchers found great many similarities between the two surveys.
Rural librarians consistently find their work to be rewarding, service-oriented
and intellectually stimulating. They rate their overall job satisfaction as high
and most plan to work in libraries for the rest of their careers.
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They consistently indicated that what they liked most about their work
was interacting with the community and the opportunity to make a
difference in people’s lives. Their primary complaint continued to be the fact
that they did not have enough money to purchase new materials and
technology to better serve their communities.
Rural librarians consistently indicated that they felt that they should be
involved in their communities as role models, as community leaders, as
members of community organizations. Furthermore, the librarians indicated
they felt that the library contributed to making life better in their community
and was a vital part of the community.
On the future of libraries and librarianship, the librarians again were
consistently very positive about both. It appears that rural librarians are
making the necessary adjustments to move the profession into the 21st
century by incorporating technology into their professional responsibilities
and embracing the title ‘‘Information Manager’’ as more appropriate for the
21st century librarian.
In regards to the Internet, it was consistently found that the majority of the
librarians did not feel that technology would replace the need for librarians. In
fact, most would encourage a young person to pursue librarianship as a career.
In addition, most did not think that the Internet would make libraries less
important in the future, although over a third thought that the Internet was
responsible for less people using the library. Lastly, the librarians did not see
competition from the Internet as the greatest challenge facing libraries but
instead they felt funding was the number one challenge.

Changes
Although the survey results showed a number of common themes the
researchers noted several distinct changes in the results over the past seven
 Rural Library Survey 37

years. The results indicated a shift in how rural librarians view library work.
Although most librarians still indicated that their primary reason for going
into librarianship was their love of books this reason did show a significant
drop. Likewise more rural librarians in 2007 indicated that they enjoyed
working with technology than in 2000. In addition the percentage of
librarians indicating that the primary purpose of the library was to provide
books and materials to patrons fell from over a half to just over a third. What
we are gathering from these results and the comments is that although
providing materials still continues to be a primary role for the rural library
serving as a community center and social space is an equally important role.
Although job satisfaction slipped some between the surveys, most
librarians still indicated that they were ‘‘very satisfied’’ with their jobs. In
regards to their primary complaint, lack of funds for new materials was the
primary complaint in 2000 as well as 2007. However, the gap between this
complaint and low pay almost closed.
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Librarians felt their work was more dynamic and technological than in
2000 and, although the role of helping people still took precedence, the role
that showed the greatest gain was that of ‘‘information provider.’’ In
addition, a greater number of librarians in 2007 indicated the need to
embrace technology and make it a focus. This indicates that the culture of
larger libraries is impacting America’s smallest libraries as libraries of all sizes
grapple with the erosion of the traditional model of a public library from a
repository of information to a service institution.
The results also showed a shift in how rural librarians view their role in
the local community. The 2007 survey data shows a slight but definite
decline in how librarians feel that their library contributes to the local
community. Fewer librarians felt that their library played a vital role in the
community, made a difference in people’s lives, or contributed to the local
economy. Although rural librarians did note the need to take an active role in
the community’s economic development and get more involved in market-
ing their services. This is an area that definitely warrants future research.
Another significant trend that the researchers noted was in the
educational levels of rural librarians. In the 2000 survey, the most common
degree held was a high school diploma. In 2007, the most common degree
was a bachelor’s degree. In addition there has been a significant increase in
the number of rural librarians reporting that they possess the MLS degree.
One surprising area in which the results did not show significant change
was how rural librarians are responding to the Internet. The researchers thought
that rural librarians would view the Internet as a threat to the very existence of
the rural library. Instead we found the opposite to be true. Rural librarians
indicated that they felt that the Internet has not made their work obsolete and
that the rural library would be more important in the future despite the
widespread use of the Internet. This parallels the data and comments on the
increasing importance of the rural library as a community center.
 38 R. Flatley and A. Wyman

2007 Questions
The 2007 survey included a number of new questions related to pay, budget,
and staffing levels. The results to these questions provide a snapshot of these
issues in today’s rural library. The average rural librarian makes $12 or less
an hour, has an annual operating budget of less than $30,000, and is staffed
by 1 full-time paid person. This indicates that librarians at America’s smallest
libraries earn approximately $3 less per hour than the average salary listed
for librarians at ‘‘very small libraries’’ according to the 2006 ALA Librarian
Salary Survey. One factor to consider is that the ALA defines a ‘‘very small
library’’ as ones serving populations of 10,000 people or less whereas we
used 2,500 or less population served as our definition of rural library.

CONCLUSION
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The current survey was a revised and expanded version of a 2000 survey of
rural librarians. The purpose of the 2000 survey was to learn how rural
librarians view librarianship and libraries and the future of both. The
purpose of the current survey was to look for changes in rural librarianship
and ask about community partnerships, staffing, and financial information.
The researchers found many similarities between the results of the two
surveys but noted several distinct changes including: a shift towards viewing
the library more as a service than a repository of materials; more
dissatisfaction about low pay; a more favorable view of technology; a noted
increase in the percentage of rural librarians with an MLS; and a disturbing
trend that the library plays less of a vital role in the community than in the
past. The 2007 survey questions showed that 43% of rural libraries are
involved in some kind of community partnerships; that the average rural
library has one paid staff who earns less than $12/hour; relies on 1–3
volunteers; and has an operating budget of less than $30,000.

REFERENCES

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Hot Stuff & Other Things. 2007. One question survey results: When do you plan to
retire? Library Media Connection 25(5): 53.
MacDonald, B. 1995. The public image of libraries and librarians as a potential
barrier to public access. Rural Libraries 15(1): 35–37.
 Rural Library Survey 39

Manley, W. 2002. Six reasons why we are underpaid. American Libraries 33(10): 92.
Marcus, D. 1999. File this under shock, future: Libraries enter the modern age. U.S.
News and World Report 12(July): 48.
Schuman, P. G. 1990. The image of librarians: Substance or shadow? The Journal of
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Wyman, A. 2008. Rural Icelandic libraries: A research study. Rural Libraries 28(1):
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CONTRIBUTORS
Robert Flatley, MSLS, is an Assistant Professor in the Rohrbach Library at
Kutztown University.
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Andrea Wyman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Baron-Forness

Library at Edinboro University. Support was provided by Dr. Bernard Vavrek
and the Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship, Clarion University of
Pennsylvania.