Rural and Small Town Library Management Challenges

This article reports the results of a survey conducted in 2015 of librarians who work for small town and rural public libraries throughout the United States. Questions were asked about personnel statistics, budget, community involvement, programs, technology, managerial challenges, and how to solve the organization's problems. The purpose of this research was to ascertain if conditions have improved for libraries in areas of low population and what managerial challenges these librarians faced. The survey found that financial conditions had improved or will improve in the future and that the most challenging managerial issue was staffing.