December 2007

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State Librarian’s Report

Rural Communities - Programs and Services

Sometimes those of us who live in the metropolitan areas of the state of Ohio forget how many people reside in what is considered more “rural communities.” Those residents who reside in rural communities often have a greater need for the services that are provided to them through their public libraries. Once again, I want to extol the virtues of the Library and Local Government Support Fund (LLGSF) which provides state funding to our public libraries and OPLIN which provides broadband Internet connectivity to our public libraries. Often the public library in a rural community is the only place where residents are able to access the Internet utilizing a broadband connection.

But libraries in rural communities are not only about closing the digital divide. As in their counterparts in the metropolitan areas, these libraries are also the places where people gather, not only socially for story times or to meet friends -- but also where they come to hold meetings.

During my visits to libraries across the state, I have been impressed over and over with the numbers of people who are using our libraries across Ohio. It is not only children with their young parents but also our teens and our senior citizens utilizing the collections, the staff expertise, and the physical space.  Libraries are indeed the “third place” not home and not work but that other place where individuals go (like the coffee shop or the bookstore).

Libraries have always been about closing divides. In fact, libraries started because there were individuals who could not afford to buy their own copies of books. Here there was a “book ownership divide” which was closed by the public library. The simplest way to explain how public libraries started in the U.S. is to say they grew from the idea of sharing a copy which was purchased for “communal use.”

In 2005 OCLC published a report entitled Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources. One of the findings of that report (page 6-3) was: “The majority of information consumers are aware of many library community services and of the role the library plays in the larger community. Most respondents agree the library is a place to learn.”

Our libraries in Ohio rural and metropolitan alike are places of lifelong learning. Indeed, Andy Venable, the Director of Cleveland Public Library says it all when he reminds us that the public library is “The People’s University.”

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