The Rural Blog recently posted some interesting facts about rural libraries and computer access…

The report found that from 2008 to 2011, the number of publicly accessible computers in rural libraries increased about 20 percent to 49,000, and computer use increased 6.7 percent, to 41.3 million uses, Tim Marema reports for the Daily Yonder. During the same period, use of publicly accessible computers in urban areas decreased 9.5 percent. The report states: “Rural areas have less access to broadband services than urban areas. In order to mitigate this disparity in access, rural libraries have made additional efforts to increase their electronic resources.”

The report also found that more people visit rural libraries than urban ones. The average visitation per capita at rural libraries was 6.7 visits per year, while in urban areas it was 5.7 visits per capita. “The raw number of visits to urban libraries was about three times the number of visits to rural libraries, a reflection of the size of the population the libraries serve,” Marema reports. To view the entire report click here.

Very interesting but not surprising to me – although I was surprised to see that use of publicly accessible computers decreased in urban areas. There always seems to be a waiting list when I’m at the library – except in the children’s area. Fortunately or unfortunately, they only let you use the computers in the children’s area if you are with a kid. (Like that from a child safety perspective; don’t like it from an access perspective.)

A couple of other notes from the report cited above…

• 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