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The State of Small and Rural Libraries 

in the United States

By Deanne W. Swan, Justin Grimes, and Timothy Owens Page 1 of 13

Research Brief No. 5, September 2013

Highlights

• Small and rural libraries 

make up the majority of 

public library systems in 

the United States (80.5%). 

• Although most rural 

libraries are small, only 

half of small libraries are 

located in rural areas.

• States have varying levels 

of challenges when meeting 

the needs of rural residents. 

The percentage of rural 

public libraries in a given 

state varies widely – 

from 3.6% to 83.3%.

• Small and rural libraries 

continue to provide 

substantial electronic and 

digital resources for patrons 

through access to e-books 

and publicly accessible 

computer terminals. 

• Although per capita 

revenue has decreased 

over the past three years, 

visitation and circulation 

have increased for both 

small and rural libraries.

Rural and small public libraries provide a variety of critical services and information resources to meet the needs of residents across the United States. Recognizing the unique needs of rural communities, state governments and federal 

agencies1 support targeted programs to promote social and economic development. For example, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) provides 

oversight for the Universal Service Program for Schools and Libraries, also called 

e-rate, which uses rurality as a qualifying factor. Many of these state and federal 

programs support intermediary organizations, such as public libraries, to deliver 

needed services.

Congress has long recognized the importance of library services in rural communities. The Library Services Act of 1956, a precursor to the current Library 

Services and Technology Act, was enacted in part to improve the role that 

public library services play in rural areas. Nongovernmental agencies have also 

recognized the important role that rural libraries play in their communities. As 

an example, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Rural Library Sustainability 

Project has played a significant role in securing public libraries’ place as community computing centers. 

Though the distribution of small and rural libraries across the U.S. can be 

determined from available data, IMLS has never conducted a targeted analysis 

of trends for rural and small library services. This brief is designed to fill that 

void. In the review that follows we examine the overlap between three categories 

of “rural” libraries and three categories of “small” libraries. We look at the basic 

characteristics of these institutions to examine differences in visitation, revenue 

and staffing. 2 The report provides an overview of the current state of small and 

rural library services for policymakers, program managers, and researchers concerned with rural development. 

What is a “Rural” library?

The term rural seems simple and straightforward but can be difficult to define. 

Rurality is often determined by delineations in geographic boundary or population threshold (Cromartie & Bucholtz, 2008). The federal government has at 

1 This includes but is not limited to Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the 

U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

2 Data for this analysis was drawn from the Public Libraries Survey (PLS) from fiscal years 2008 

through 2011. For more information on the PLS, see the data documentation and datasets at 

www.imls.gov/research.
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

Rural 

Libraries

Rural & Small

Libraries

Small

Libraries

All other 

libraries

3.4%

33.7%

19.5%

43.4%

least fifteen different definitions of “rural” (Fahrenthold, 

2013), each designed to address a different policy priority. 

This analysis makes use of the urban-centric locale code 

system of the Public Libraries Survey (PLS), which separates rural areas into three categories: 

Rural, Fringe a Census-defined rural territory that is 

less than or equal to 5 miles from an 

urbanized area, as well as rural territory 

that is less than or equal to 2.5 miles 

from an urban cluster

Rural, Distant a Census-defined rural territory that is 

more than 5 miles but less than or equal 

to 25 miles from an urbanized area, as 

well as rural territory that is more than 2.5 

miles but less than or equal to 10 miles 

from an urban cluster

Rural, Remote a Census-defined rural territory that is 

more than 25 miles from an urbanized 

area and is also more than 10 miles from 

an urban cluster

What is a “Small” library?

Unlike the classification of rural libraries, there are few 

guideposts for determining what constitutes a “small” 

library. There has been little discussion in the library and 

information science (LIS) research literature on the subject. In the few occasions in which the term small library

has been defined, it has been based on a variety of factors, 

such as geography and population (Heurtz, Gordon, Gordon, & Moore 2003; Olszewski, Van Orden, & Dalrymple, 

2007); a library service area or population of area served 

(Heurtz, Gordon, Gordon, & Moore 2003); or the characteristics of the libraries in question, such as the size of 

a library’s staff, collection, building, or budget (Strouse, 

Henry, Brown, & Outsell, Inc. 2008; Calhoun, 2008).

In this analysis, we have defined small library based on 

the population size of a library’s legal service area. Libraries with a legal service area population of 25,000 or less 

were categorized as small libraries. After identifying all 

libraries below this basic threshold, these small libraries 

were further subdivided into the following three categories:

Small 

(10 to 25K)

A library with a legal service area 

population between 10,000 and 24,999

Small 

(2.5 to 10K)

A library with a legal service area 

population between 2,500 and 9.999

Small 

(Less than 2.5K)

A library with a legal service area 

population under 2,500

Small and Rural Public Libraries

In Fiscal Year 2011 (FY2011), the most recent year for 

which data are available, there were 8,956 public libraries 

in the United States.3 Most of these public libraries can 

be categorized as small (77.1%), with legal service area 

populations of less than 25,000. Similarly, almost half of 

all public libraries were rural libraries (46.8%). Figure 1 

highlights the substantial overlap between these two categories: 43.4% of all public libraries in the U.S. were both 

small and rural. 

Figure 1. Designation of Public Libraries 

as Small and Rural, FY2011

Source: Public Libraries Survey (PLS) FY 2011, Institute of Museum and 

Library Services.

This overlap, however, highlights an unexpected finding. The terms “small” and “rural” are often conflated, 

but there is not always a direct correspondence between 

the two. Although most rural libraries (92.8%) are also 

small, only half of small libraries (56.3%) were located in 

rural areas. 

Figure 2 provides graphic representations of the distribution of each category of small and rural public libraries 

for the entire county. Table 1 provides a more detailed 

look at the distribution of small and rural public libraries 

for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. As 

expected, there was substantial variability across all states 

in the proportion of small and rural libraries. The per3 The analysis is conducted at the level of the library administrative 

entity, which could be either a multi-outlet library system or a singleoutlet library. For administrative entities with more than one branch, the 

locale code was assigned based on the modal locale code of all outlets of 

that public library.
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

Small Public Libraries Rural Public Libraries

Service area less than 25,000 Rural, Fringe

Rural, Distant

Rural, Remote

Service area less than 10,000

Service area less than 2,500

Figure 2: Distribution of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

Note: Hawaii had no rural or small public libraries 

Source: Public Library Survey (PLS), FY 2008 – 2011, Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

State 

# Public 

Libraries

Rural*

% Rural 

Libraries

Small**

% Small 

Fringe Distant Remote Libraries

10K to 

25K

2.5K to 

10K

up to 

2.5K

AK - Alaska 72 2 3 55 83.3% 3 16 48 93.1%

AL - Alabama 212 17 66 30 53.3% 55 73 44 81.1%

AR - Arkansas 55 - 13 6 34.5% 11 6 4 38.2%

AZ - Arizona 90 9 10 20 43.3% 12 28 21 67.8%

CA - California 182 5 6 7 9.9% 23 4 4 17.0%

CO - Colorado 114 2 12 47 53.5% 20 37 30 76.3%

CT - Connecticut 183 47 16 - 34.4% 65 62 19 79.8%

DC - District of Columbia 1 - - - - - - - -

DE - Delaware 21 3 2 - 23.8% 8 5 - 61.9%

FL - Florida 77 6 6 15.6% 12 4 1 22.1%

GA - Georgia 61 5 11 2 29.5% 6 - - 9.8%

HI - Hawaii 1 - - - - - - - -

IA - Iowa 531 15 229 170 78.0% 39 127 340 95.3%

ID - Idaho 101 6 21 34 60.4% 13 33 40 85.1%

IL - Illinois 621 33 170 33 38.0% 127 201 183 82.3%

IN - Indiana 238 9 85 7 42.4% 49 82 52 76.9%

KS - Kansas 311 8 63 162 74.9% 19 63 215 95.5%

KY - Kentucky 118 2 24 23 41.5% 58 16 1 63.6%

LA - Louisiana 68 5 15 8 41.2% 23 5 2 44.1%

MA - Massachusets 359 59 40 - 27.6% 109 116 64 80.5%

MD - Maryland 24 1 5 - 25.0% 1 - - 4.2%

ME - Maine 214 16 85 56 73.4% 22 100 89 98.6%

MI - Michigan 389 28 103 59 48.8% 88 178 32 76.6%

MN - Minnesota 138 4 26 47 55.8% 19 46 45 79.7%

MO - Missouri 147 2 19 46 45.6% 31 48 31 74.8%

MS - Mississippi 50 2 8 11 42.0% 7 6 26.0%

MT - Montana 81 - 7 50 70.4% 11 35 27 90.1%

NC - North Carolina 77 4 21 3 36.4% 6 3 - 11.7%

ND - North Dakota 76 - 3 59 81.6% 7 11 51 90.8%

NE - Nebraska 216 3 34 129 76.9% 8 32 168 96.3%

NH - New Hampshire 221 41 91 32 74.2% 17 92 109 98.6%

NJ - New Jersey 281 9 1 - 3.6% 94 100 10 72.6%

NM - New Mexico 82 4 11 21 43.9% 12 27 32 86.6%

NV - Nevada 22 1 1 9 50.0% 2 6 4 54.5%

NY - New York 756 69 211 51 43.8% 145 274 216 84.0%

Table 1: Small and Rural Public Libraries by State
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

State 

# Public 

Libraries

Rural*

% Rural 

Libraries

Small**

% Small 

Fringe Distant Remote Libraries

10K to 

25K

2.5K to 

10K

up to 

2.5K

OH - Ohio 251 11 68 1 31.9% 66 75 11 60.6%

OK - Oklahoma 117 5 18 32 47.0% 18 41 45 88.9%

OR - Oregon 126 4 18 27 38.9% 28 36 32 76.2%

PA - Pennsylvania 456 22 60 12 20.6% 141 154 37 72.8%

RI - Rhode Island 48 8 2 - 20.8% 22 16 1 81.3%

SC - South Carolina 42 1 12 - 31.0% 5 - - 11.9%

SD - South Dakota 103 4 11 66 78.6% 8 22 68 95.1%

TN - Tennessee 185 17 51 20 47.6% 53 50 25 69.2%

TX - Texas 553 38 70 83 34.5% 113 218 82 74.7%

UT - Utah 72 5 8 19 44.4% 15 25 12 72.2%

VA - Virginia 91 7 25 8 44.0% 20 7 2 31.9%

VT - Vermont 159 17 71 38 79.2% 9 47 101 98.7%

WA - Washington 61 3 13 11 44.3% 12 10 15 60.7%

WI - Wisconsin 382 15 123 88 59.2% 73 164 97 87.4%

WV - West Virginia 97 6 29 19 55.7% 27 46 5 80.4%

WY - Wyoming 23 - - 12 52.2% 8 6 1 65.2%

Total (U.S.) 8,956 580 1,997 1,613 46.8% 1,740 2,753 2,416 77.1%

6.5% 22.3% 18.0% 19.4% 30.7% 27.0%

* Rural designation is based upon the urban-centric locale codes used in the Common Core of Data.

** Small designation is based on the size of the unduplicated service population.

centage of rural libraries in a state may be a reflection of 

population density, but it may also reflect library legislation or administrative structure (single- versus multi-outlet 

libraries). 

States varied in the proportion of rural libraries, from 

3.6% to 83.3% of public libraries. In 10 states, rural 

libraries comprised 70% or more of the public libraries 

(Table 1). Alaska (83.3%) and North Dakota (81.6%) 

had the highest percentage of libraries in a rural area. In 

three states – New Jersey (3.6%), California (9.9%), and 

Florida (15.6%)4 – fewer than 20% of libraries were in a 

rural area. 

Table 2 provides a detailed breakdown of the percent4 Neither Hawaii nor the District of Columbia had any public libraries 

that were classified as either rural or small. 

age of libraries that fall within these small and rural library 

categories. Overall there were 4,109 public libraries in 

rural areas of the U.S.5 in FY2011. The vast majority of 

these libraries fall into the subcategories of rural-distant 

(47.7%) or rural-remote (38.5%), and over half of rural public libraries serve populations of less than 2,500 

people. As might be expected, the overwhelming majority of city libraries serve populations in excess of 25,000 

people. Indeed, the median service population for city 

libraries is 99,743, compared to the median service population for rural libraries, which is 2,244. 

It is important to note that there is not a direct relationship between the number of libraries found in each 

5 For the purpose of this brief, “in the U.S.” refers to the 50 states and 

the District of Columbia.

Table 1: Small and Rural Public Libraries by State (continued)
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

category and the size of the population served. Overall, rural libraries in the U.S. target a population6

 of 37,030,458 

people for library services, which amounts to just over 

12% of the target library service population in the United 

States. In contrast, city libraries, which are far fewer in 

number, target a service population of over 104 million 

people (34.9% of the U.S. population). 

Services in Rural Public Libraries

In FY2011, there were 167.6 million recorded visits to 

rural public libraries. Median visitation to rural public 

libraries was 11,282. Average visitation per capita at rural 

public libraries was 6.7 visits per year; the average visitation per capita at rural remote libraries was 7.6 visits per 

year. Although visitation to rural public libraries decreased 

by 3.9% from FY2010, it has increased by 4.2% over the 

past three years. In contrast, there were 519.1 million 

visits to city public libraries in FY2011. For comparative 

purposes, the average visitation per capita at city public 

libraries was 5.7. Visitation has declined by 1.7% in city 

libraries over the past three years.

Across all rural public libraries, 241.9 million materials 

were circulated to the public. Although overall circulation 

decreased by 5.9% from FY2010, there was a three-year 

increase of 4.4%. Median circulation in rural libraries was 

15,847. The highest levels of circulation were in ruralfringe libraries, with a median circulation of 41,408. The 

average circulation per capita for rural libraries was 8.7.

Service hours have remained fairly stable for rural 

libraries for the past 3 years. Rural libraries in the U.S. 

were open for a total of 10.6 million service hours across 

all outlets, resulting in an average of 33.5 hours per outlet 

6 All population references are based upon unduplicated service area 

population estimates.

Table 2: Distribution of Public Libraries by Population Service Size Category, FY 2011

Medium to Large Small 

(10 to 25K)

Small 

(2.5 to 10 K)

Small 

(< 2.5K)

% Libraries # Libraries

City 94.6% 3.7% 1.4% 0.2% 5.4% 483

Suburb 39.3% 35.8% 22.7% 2.2% 23.0% 2,058

Town 21.6% 30.9% 43.1% 4.4% 24.8% 2,225

Rural 7.2% 7.1% 31.5% 54.2% 46.8% 4,190

each week. In contrast, city libraries were open for an 

average of 42.7 hours each week, which was a three-year 

decrease of 7.2%.

Revenue in Rural Public Libraries

Revenue has fallen for most public libraries since the recession. Rural libraries had $1.09 billion in total revenue 

in FY2011, a one-year decrease of 3.4%. The median 

revenue for rural libraries overall was $69,215. However, 

there was wide variability across rural libraries, ranging 

from $0 to $20.4 million, and there is a significant relationship between the size of a library’s service area population and revenue (r = 0.84), with eight rural libraries serving populations in excess of 250,000 people. In FY2011, 

more than 90% of the rural libraries had revenue of less 

than $500,000. Median revenue for rural-fringe libraries 

was $174,970; for rural-remote libraries, median revenue 

was $53,235. Most public library revenue typically comes 

from local government sources. In FY2011, rural libraries 

received 80.2% of total revenue from local government 

sources and 10.3% from state government, a three-year 

increase of 4.5% in local revenue and decrease of 20.4% 

in state revenue. In contrast to rural libraries, urban libraries had $4.29 billion in revenue in FY2011. Whereas 

revenue for city libraries began to decline in FY2008, rural 

library revenues did not decline until FY2009. 

One measure of capacity for public libraries is revenue 

per capita, a ratio of the total revenue to the number 

of people in the legal service area. In other words, the 

amount of revenue the library has available to serve each 

person. Across all rural libraries, revenue per capita was 

$29.44, a three-year decrease of 3.3% (Figure 3). In comparison, revenue per capita for city libraries was $40.06, 

a three-year decrease of 6.1%. The median revenue per 

capita was $32.10 for rural libraries; for city libraries, it 
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States Revenue per capita

was $36.62. Although city areas have more money for 

each person, they have experienced a more dramatic 

decrease in funds over the past three years.

Figure 3. Revenue per Capita in Rural 

Libraries, FY2008-2011

Fiscal Year

Source: Public Library Survey (PLS), FY 2008 – 2011, Institute of 

Museum and Library Services.

Electronic Resources in Rural Public Libraries

Rural areas have less access to broadband services than 

urban areas, and proximity to an urban area is a greater 

factor in access than population density. In order to mitigate this disparity in access, rural libraries have made 

additional efforts to increase their electronic resources. 

There were 49,048 publicly accessible computer terminals in rural libraries in FY2011, a three-year increase 

of 20.2%. The median number of terminals in rural 

libraries was six. These terminals were used over 41.3 

million times, a three-year increase of 6.7%. In contrast, 

the use of publicly accessible computer terminals in 

city libraries has decreased by 9.5% over the past three 

years. This trend in city libraries may not reflect the 

need for digital resources in public libraries, but rather 

locale differences in how patrons use technology in 

public libraries.7

Rural libraries had 10.3 million e-books available 

to the public in FY2011. Of the 1,475 rural libraries 

7 The usage of mobile devices in libraries has increased since 2009. 

See the Rainie et al. (2012) and Bertot et al. (2010). 

(35.2%) that include e-books in their collections, the 

median number of e-books was 2,578 per library.

Staffing at Rural Public Libraries

A particular challenge for rural libraries is staffing. Rural 

libraries have difficulty finding and retaining academically trained staff (Hildreth, 2007). In light of the economic 

recession and accompanying unemployment, it has been 

important to look at the public library workforce. 

Nationally, the public library workforce has shown a 

decrease since FY2008 (Swan, et al., 2013). Overall, 

staffing levels have decreased in rural libraries over the 

past three years, but not by as much as that experienced 

by city libraries. Rural libraries provided 17,090 full-time 

equivalent (FTE) jobs, 7,412 of which were positions 

for librarians (FTE). Rural libraries accounted for 12.4% 

of employment across all libraries in the U.S., 15.9% 

of all librarian positions in public libraries. One-third of 

rural librarians (FTEs) held a Master’s of Library Science (MLS) from a program accredited by the American 

Library Association (ALA). The number of ALA-MLS librarians in rural libraries has increased by 2.6% over the 

past three years. In contrast, ALA-MLS librarians have 

decreased by 7.8% in urban libraries during the same 

time period. The median number of librarians (FTE) per 

library was 1.0. Many public libraries in rural-distant and 

rural-remote areas did not have librarians who worked 

a full-time schedule (i.e., 40 hour week). Median total 

staff at rural libraries was 1.5. In contrast, urban librarians had a median of 44.7 staff, 14.0 of whom held the 

position title of librarian. Total staff in urban libraries has 

decreased by 8.9% over the past three years.

Small Libraries in the United States

There were 6,909 public libraries (77.1%) in the U.S. 

that had a legal service area population of less than 

25,000 in FY2011. Most small libraries (74.8%) had a 

service population of less than 10,000. Overall, small 

libraries served a population of 46.0 million people, 

15.4% of the total population served by public libraries. Most small public libraries were in towns (25.3%) 

or rural areas (56.3%). Perhaps not surprisingly, very 

few small public libraries are in cities (0.4%), as shown 

in Table 3.
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

Revenue per capita

Table 3. Distribution of Public Libraries by Population Size and Locale, FY2011

City Suburban Town Rural % Libraries # Libraries

Medium to Large 22.3% 39.5% 23.4% 14.8% 22.9% 2,047

Small 0.4% 18.1% 25.3% 56.3% 77.1% 6,909

Small (10 to 25K) 1.0% 42.4% 39.5% 17.1% 19.4% 1,740

Small (2.5 to 10K) 0.3% 17.0% 34.8% 47.9% 30.7% 2,753

Small (less than 2.5K) 0.0% 1.9% 4.1% 94.0% 27.0% 2,416

Figure 4. Visitation Per Capita at Small 

Public Libraries, FY2008-2011

Fiscal Year

Source: Public Library Survey (PLS), FY 2008 – 2011, Institute of 

Museum and Library Services.

Small libraries circulated a total of 407.3 million 

materials in FY2011, a three-year increase of 2.7%. By 

comparison, medium-to-large libraries circulated 3.0 billion materials, a three-year increase of 8.2%. The median 

circulation for small libraries was 28,907, ranging from 

8,294 for libraries with a service population of less than 

2,500 to 109,350 for small libraries with the largest 

service area population (10 to 25K). Median circulation 

per capita was 7.5. Circulation per capita decreased from 

FY2010, but showed a 2.9% increase over three years.

Revenue at Small Public Libraries

Revenue to public libraries has decreased nationally since 

FY2009. Revenue at small libraries was $1.99 billion for 

FY2011, a one-year decrease of 1.3%. Median revenue for 

small libraries was $127,033, but there was wide variability across small libraries based on service area population. In the largest of the small libraries (10 to 25K), 

Similar to dispersion of rural libraries, there is variability across the states in the proportion of small public 

libraries (Table 1). The percentage of small libraries in a 

state may be a reflection of population density, but it may 

also reflect library legislation or other incentives designed 

to encourage larger units of service to realize economies 

of scale. States with fewer single-outlet administrative 

entities may have outlets that serve rural or small communities, but this may be masked by their association with a 

multiple-outlet administrative entity. For example, the formula for allocation of State Aid to Public Libraries in North 

Carolina recognizes the county as an effective government 

unit for providing sustainable library service, and there is 

additional incentive for multicounty regional systems.

Small public libraries comprised from 4.2 to 98.7% 

of public libraries within individual states. In 10 states, 

small libraries comprised 90% or more of the public 

libraries. Vermont (98.7%), Maine (98.6%), and New 

Hampshire (98.6%) had the highest percentage of small 

libraries. In five states, fewer than 20% of public libraries 

had service area populations less than 25,000. Maryland 

(4.2%) and Georgia (9.8%) had the lowest percentage of 

small libraries.

Services at Small Public Libraries

There were 301.2 million visits to small public libraries in 

FY2011. The median number of visits for a small library 

was 21,222, ranging from 85,055 for libraries with larger 

service area populations (10,000 to 24,999) to 6,338 for 

the smallest service areas (less than 2,500 people). Visitation per capita was 5.5 for all small libraries, representing a 

three-year increase of 4.6% (Figure 4). In contrast, median 

visitation per capita for medium-to-large libraries (with service area populations of 25,000 or more) was 4.5; a threeyear decrease of 1.4%.
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

median revenue was $511,204; in the smallest (less than 

2.5K), median revenue was $41,287. Revenue per capita 

for small libraries was $34.63, with a range from $32.11 

(service population 2,500 to 9,999) to $37.03 (service 

population less than 2,500).

Electronic Resources at Small Public Libraries

There were 71,366 publicly accessible computers at small 

libraries across the U.S., a three-year increase of 18.1%. 

The median number of computers for small libraries was 

seven; the number of computers at small libraries ranged 

from 0 to 117. In contrast, there were 190,047 computers at libraries with service area populations of 25,000 or 

more. There were 63.4 million uses of public-access computers at small libraries in FY2011, a one-year decrease 

of 3.3%. In contrast, uses of public-access computers at 

large libraries (over 25,000) decreased by 8.0%. This may 

be because of the decrease in visitation or because of the 

ubiquity of mobile devices as a platform for library patrons 

to access library resources. 

Small libraries had 21.1 million e-books available to 

the public, 60.2% of all e-book holdings across the U.S. 

Small libraries have increased their e-books by 194.3% 

over three years. Of the 2,933 small libraries (42.4%) that 

had e-books in their collections, the median number of ebooks was 2929. 

Staffing at Small Public Libraries

Maintaining the workforce at small public libraries can 

be particularly difficult. In many small libraries, the total 

staff can be one person who works less than 40 hours each 

week. Unlike in some library systems where, during times 

of budget cuts, positions can be eliminated for a cost savings, small libraries cannot sacrifice their human resources.

Small libraries in the U.S. provided 29,329 full-time 

equivalent (FTE) positions, 21.4% of all FTEs offered by 

public libraries in FY2011. Like many sectors, staffing at 

public libraries has decreased since the recession. However, small libraries experienced a three-year decrease of 

1.2%, compared to the decrease of 6.6% by their larger 

peers (libraries with service populations greater than 

25,000). Librarians comprised 13,604 of the total FTEs, 

40.7% of whom held an ALA-MLS degree. 

The total paid staff is an indicator that is closely tied to 

size. The median number of total staff (FTEs) was 2.5, with 

1.0 librarian positions. More telling of the heterogeneity of 

small libraries is the variation across the different population levels: median staffing levels from 7.9 FTEs in the 

larger small libraries to 0.9 in the smallest. Thus, in some 

of the smallest public libraries, one person is entrusted 

with duties as diverse as cataloging, program administration, and outreach.

Conclusions

One of the surprising findings in this review is the sheer 

number of public libraries that can be classified as either 

small or rural. Their broad distribution across the country 

speaks volumes about the value local communities place 

on library services. Despite fiscal challenges and rapid 

technological changes, services in small and rural public 

libraries continue to evolve to serve the unique needs of 

their communities. The fact that service utilization 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. 

This increase in use of small and rural libraries may 

be due the fact that other services in rural communities 

are contracting as a result financial challenges. Small and 

rural libraries, which are present in so many communities, serve a strategic role in extending public services 

to residents that may be hard to reach by other means. 

Many small and rural libraries are accustomed to linking 

what might be considered traditional library services with 

a variety of other social, educational and economic development programs. Other agencies are seeing the value of 

their roles as well. For example, the U.S. Postal Service 

has used Public Library Survey data to identify library locations in communities where post offices were likely to see 

reduced hours. This analysis identified as many as 2,450 

libraries in the affected areas that could provide services 

through the new Village Post Office program.8

In addition to broadening service options in rural communities, rural libraries have made significant investments 

in connectivity and digital technology. In comparison to 

8 For more on the Village Post Office, see the IMLS Blog at 

http://blog.imls.gov/?p=1705 and Library Journal at http://lj.libraryjournal.com/

2012/08/library-services/libraries-could-double-as-post-offices. 
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Institute of Museum and Library Services •  • 1800 M Street NW, 9th Floor •  • Washington, DC 20036 •  • www.imls.gov

The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

urban public libraries, rural libraries have outpaced them 

in building infrastructure and resources, with higher levels 

of publicly accessible Internet computers and e-books. In 

conjunction with the disparity of broadband access in rural 

communities, 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.

References

American Library Association Allied Professional Association. 

(2007). ALA-APA rural library staff salary survey. Retrieved from 

www.ala-apa.org/salaries/RuralLibrarySalarySurvey.pdf

Bertot, J.C., McDermott, A., Lincoln, R., Real, B., & Peterson, K. 

(2012). 2011-2012 Public Library Funding & Technology Access 

Survey: Survey Findings & Report. College Park, MD: Information Policy & Access Center, University of Maryland College Park. 

www.plinternetsurvey.org 

Borman, G. S. (2009). Rural U.S. Libraries: Serving Populations 

and Meeting Challenges. Library Student Journal, 4(0). Retrieved 

from www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj/article/view/117

Calhoun, K (2008, June 17), Hello, and On Small Libraries, 

Metalogue. Retrieved from http://community.oclc.org/metalogue/

archives/2008/06/hello-and-on-small-libraries.html

Cromrtie, J. & Bucholtz, S (2008). Defining the “Rural” in Rural 

America. Amber Waves, 6(3).

Deavers, K. (1992). What is Rural? Policy Studies Journal, 

20(2), 184–189. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.1992.tb00146.x

DeGruyter, L. (1980). The History and Development of Rural 

Public Libraries. Library Trends, 28(4), 513–523.

Fahrenthold, D. (2013, June 08). What does rural mean? Uncle 

Sam has more than a dozen answers. Washington Post. Retrieved 

from www.washingtonpost.com/politics/what-does-rural-mean-uncle-sam-has-more-than-a-dozen-answers/2013/06/08/377469e8-

ca26-11e2-9c79-a0917ed76189_story.html

Heurtz, L, Gordon, A., Gordon, M., & Moore, E., (2003). The 

Impact of Public Access Computing on Rural and Small Town 

Libraries. Rural Libraries, 1.

Hildreth, S. (2007). Rural Libraries: The Heart of Our Community, Public Libraries, 46, 7-11.

Hobbs, Daryl J. and Vicki M. Hobbs. (n.d.) Rural America: 

Assessing the Extent of and Demand for Telecommunications 

Infrastructure in Rural America. Organization for the Promotion 

and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. 

Retrieved 30 April 2007. www.opastco.org/docs/Whitep2a.pdf

Ivie, T. (2009). Defining “Rural” for Rural Library Research. The 

Idaho Librarian, 59(1).

Majekodunmi, A. (2012) Examining the Role of Rural Community Libraries: Social Connectedness and Adult Learning

Olszewski, L., Van Orden, R., & Dalrymple, T. (2007, May 2) 

Small and Rural Libraries Discussion Paper. from www.webjunction.org/documents/webjunction/Small_and_Rural_Libraries_

Discussion_Paper.html

Raine, L., Zickuhr, K., & Duggan, M. (2012). Mobile Connections to Libraries. Pew Research Center: Washington, DC. 

http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/12/31/mobile-connectionsto-libraries 

Strouse, R., Henry, H., Brown, S., & Outsell, Inc. (2008). 2008 

library market size, share & forecast report. Burlingame, CA: 

Outsell.

Swan, D.W., Grimes, J., Owens, T., Vese, J., R.D., Miller, K., 

Arroyo, J., Craig, T., Dorinski, S., Freeman, M., Isaac, N., 

O’Shea, P., Shilling, P., Scotto, J. (2013). Public Libraries 

Survey: 

Fiscal Year 2010 (IMLS-2013-PLS-01). Institute of Museum 

and Library Services: Washington, DC.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary 

source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 

17,500 museums. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and 

civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and 

research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services 

that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. 

To learn more, visit www.imls.gov.

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation

Director, Carlos Manjarrez

Suggested Citation

Swan, D.W., Grimes, J. & Owens, T. (2013). The State of Small 

and Rural Libraries in the United States. Research Brief series, 

no. 5 (IMLS-2013-RB-05). Washington, DC: Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Public Libraries Survey

The Public Libraries Survey (PLS) is a national census of public 

library systems. It is conducted annually by the Institute of Museum and Library Services in partnership with the U.S. Census 

Bureau, State Library Administrative Agencies, and the Library 

Statistics Working Group. Its data elements cover library service 

measures of public library services, resources, and funding. The 

PLS is designed as a universe survey; its survey frame consists of 

9,217 public libraries in the 50 states, the District of Columbia 

and selected US territories. 
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

Appendix: Table A. Descriptive Statistics for Rural Public Libraries

Average Median Minimum Maximum

Services

Visitation

Rural 39,992 11,282 21 3,283,898

Rural Fringe 72,777 25,693 257 1,881,264

Rural Distant 43,677 11,180 21 3,283,898

Rural Remote 23,640 8,580 160 1,135,265

Visitation, per capita

Rural 6.7 5.0 0.0 211.2

Rural Fringe 6.5 4.9 0.1 62.7

Rural Distant 6.0 4.6 0.0 98.5

Rural Remote 7.6 5.6 0.1 211.2

Circulation

Rural 57,730 15,847 48 4,437,942

Rural Fringe 115,855 41,408 171 2,778,783

Rural Distant 62,433 16,310 48 4,437,942

Rural Remote 31,007 11,311 104 2,045,346

Circulation, per capita

Rural 8.7 6.9 0.0 144.4

Rural Fringe 9.7 7.7 0.1 94.9

Rural Distant 8.0 6.4 0.1 75.4

Rural Remote 9.3 7.3 0.0 144.4

Revenue

Revenue

Rural $260,196 $69,215 $0 $20,373,817 

Rural Fringe $505,763 $174,970 $5,300 $8,753,016 

Rural Distant $277,091 $69,522 $1,000 $20,373,817 

Rural Remote $150,979 $53,235 $0 $10,714,390 

Revenue, per capita

Rural $42.40 $32.10 $0.00 $1,186.29 

Rural Fringe $44.94 $32.88 $0.65 $680.21 

Rural Distant $37.22 $30.02 $0.28 $561.94 

Rural Remote $47.89 $34.77 $0.00 $1,186.29 

Electronic Resources

PC Terminals

Rural 12 6 0 402

Rural Fringe 16 8 0 402

Rural Distant 12 6 0 355

Rural Remote 9 6 0 280

PC Uses (per 1,000 Visits)

Rural 9,855 2,813 0 650,641

Rural Fringe 15,811 4,241 0 650,641

Rural Distant 11,098 2,811 0 628,309

Rural Remote 6,173 2,436 0 463,965

E-Books

Rural 2,463 0 0 93,829

Rural Fringe 2,994 7 0 52,024

Rural Distant 2,735 0 0 91,317

Rural Remote 1,935 0 0 93,829

Staffing

Librarians

Rural 1.8 1.0 0 91

Rural Fringe 2.9 1.4 0 50

Rural Distant 1.8 0.9 0 91

Rural Remote 1.3 0.8 0 29
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

Average Median Minimum Maximum

Total Staff

Rural 4.1 1.5 0.0 249.8

Rural Fringe 7.3 3.0 0.1 196.8

Rural Distant 4.4 1.5 0.0 249.8

Rural Remote 2.4 1.1 0.1 87.9

Programs 

Programs (total)

Rural 151 57 0 10,077

Rural Fringe 274 155 0 10,077

Rural Distant 161 61 0 8,236

Rural Remote 93 36 0 3,276

Children’s Programs

Rural 95 37 0 5,873

Rural Fringe 162 92 0 1,996

Rural Distant 103 40 0 5,873

Rural Remote 62 23 0 2,303

Program Attendance (total)

Rural 21.4 15.9 0.0 1,867.0

Rural Fringe 19.6 16.7 0.0 96.4

Rural Distant 21.5 16.0 0.0 351.0

Rural Remote 21.9 15.5 0.0 1,867.0

Appendix: Table A. Descriptive Statistics for Rural Public Libraries (continued)

Average Median Minimum Maximum

Services

Visitation

Small 43,599 21,222 0 860,964

Small (10 to 25K) 101,595 85,055 443 860,964

Small (2.5 to 10K) 37,396 26,294 173 747,448

Small (Less than 2.5K) 8,898 6,338 0 135,660

Visitation, per capita

Small 7.1 5.5 0.0 211.2

Small (10 to 25K) 6.4 5.6 0.0 44.9

Small (2.5 to 10K) 6.8 5.2 0.1 107.1

Small (Less than 2.5K) 8.0 5.8 0.0 211.2

Circulation

Small 58,943 28,907 48 1,260,950

Small (10 to 25K) 140,716 109,350 832 1,260,950

Small (2.5 to 10K) 48,715 36,631 100 772,023

Small (Less than 2.5K) 11,704 8,294 48 171,405

Circulation, per capita

Small 9.2 7.5 0.0 144.4

Small (10 to 25K) 8.8 7.4 0.0 52.0

Small (2.5 to 10K) 8.9 7.3 0.0 109.7

Small (Less than 2.5K) 10.0 7.7 0.1 144.4

Revenue

Revenue

Small $288,255 $127,033 $0 $6,021,810 

Small (10 to 25K) $705,991 $511,204 $5,000 $6,021,810 

Small (2.5 to 10K) $227,141 $157,675 $0 $3,897,450 

Small (Less than 2.5K) $57,041 $41,287 $719 $2,742,918 

Appendix: Table B. Descriptive Statistics for Small Public Libraries
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The State of Small and Rural Libraries in the United States

Average Median Minimum Maximum

Revenue, per capita

Small $46.21 $34.63 $0.00 $2,192.58 

Small (10 to 25K) $43.98 $34.41 $0.24 $374.62 

Small (2.5 to 10K) $40.93 $32.11 $0.00 $523.71 

Small (Less than 2.5K) $53.83 $37.03 $2.47 $2,192.58 

Electronic Resources

PC Terminals

Small 10 7 0 117

Small (10 to 25K) 18 15 0 117

Small (2.5 to 10K) 10 8 0 65

Small (Less than 2.5K) 5 4 0 42

PC Uses (per 1,000 Visits)

Small 277 224 0 21,714

Small (10 to 25K) 239 201 0 2,267

Small (2.5 to 10K) 266 216 0 13,831

Small (Less than 2.5K) 318 260 0 21,714

E-Books

Small 3,051 0 0 155,801

Small (10 to 25K) 4,687 386 0 155,801

Small (2.5 to 10K) 3,380 0 0 100,000

Small (Less than 2.5K) 1,496 0 0 91,317

Staffing

Librarians

Small 2.0 1.0 0 22

Small (10 to 25K) 3.9 3.0 0 22

Small (2.5 to 10K) 1.8 1.0 0 18

Small (Less than 2.5K) 0.8 0.7 0 7

Total Staff

Small 4.2 2.5 0.0 54.2

Small (10 to 25K) 9.5 7.9 0.0 54.2

Small (2.5 to 10K) 3.7 3.0 0.0 33.0

Small (Less than 2.5K) 1.1 0.9 0.1 19.8

Programs 

Progams (total)

Small 168 91 0 4,057

Small (10 to 25K) 336 263 0 2,844

Small (2.5 to 10K) 159 109 0 4,057

Small (Less than 2.5K) 56 32 0 1,145

Children’s Programs

Small 104 58 0 2,927

Small (10 to 25K) 208 166 0 2,223

Small (2.5 to 10K) 99 68 0 2,927

Small (Less than 2.5K) 36 18 0 663

Program Attendance (total)

Small 22.0 17.3 0.0 1,867.0

Small (10 to 25K) 23.4 20.8 0.0 291.5

Small (2.5 to 10K) 22.0 17.3 0.0 304.0

Small (Less than 2.5K) 21.1 14.5 0.0 1,867.0

Appendix: Table B. Descriptive Statistics for Small Public Libraries (continued)