Rural Libraries and Digital Inclusion of Farming Communities: Capabilities, Willingness, Challenges, and Needs
Devendra Dilip Potnis, Luke McDonald · Public Library Quarterly · 2025
Rural libraries are uniquely positioned to address the digital divide in rural America. Based on surveys with 110 rural librarians in Tennessee and 12 follow-up interviews, this study reports the capabilities, willingness to help farming communities, challenges, and needs of librarians and libraries for digital inclusion. The challenges generate negative outcomes for rural libraries and local communities. We propose solutions such as developing a certificate program for librarians for the digital inclusion of farming communities, hiring a community outreach and engagement librarian, and building an outreach and engagement toolkit for libraries to better understand and meet the needs of rural communities.