Extending Information Resources in Rural Areas

In many rural areas, the loss of federal revenue-sharing funds, coupled with inflation and the persistent refusal of voters to approve tax increases, are causing cutbacks in county funding for local Extension centers. As a result, a number of rural Extension offices have reduced their operating levels and some are being forced to close. This is occurring even though rural citizens continue to need up-to-date market, scientific, and socioeconomic information to function successfully in our changing society. Extension continues to offer information, but reaching rural audiences today requires innovative multidisciplinary approaches.

Working with other organizations that have similar goals can be an effective way to help Extension accomplish its goals with reduced resources. For example, Extension centers can work cooperatively with local library systems to more successfully meet the information and educational needs of community residents.

Holmes had success in using the public libraries as outlets for distributing Extension information dealing with a major Gypsy Moth outbreak in Massachusetts.1 The libraries appreciated obtaining this information as their own resources on this topic were often limited or out-of-date. The Intermountain Community Learning and Information Services (ICLIS) project in Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and Colorado developed cooperative links between Extension and local rural libraries as well as other organizations.2 The University of Kentucky Extension had positive results in a major program for disseminating Extension publications from the campus to rural libraries in the state.3

To test the hypothesis that greater cooperation between Extension centers and rural libraries improves their services, a cooperative pilot project by the University Extension Center and the County Library System in Texas County, Missouri, was done. The specific cooperative program activities included using the main library in Houston, Missouri, as an Extension public information outlet with microcomputer access to Extension and other University of Missouri resources. Two important computer information sources were LUMIN (Libraries of the University of Missouri Information Network) and the "Agricultural Electronic Bulletin Board." LUMIN is an online catalog of the holdings of the four University of Missouri campus libraries. The Texas County patrons were able to obtain material from the University of Missouri libraries through the interlibrary loan system.

With library staff providing microcomputer access to the Agricultural Electronic Bulletin Board service offered by the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, the Texas County Library was able to give farmers and other patrons quick access to current agricultural information on topics such as farm market prices, farm management, pest management, agricultural law updates, gardening and yard work techniques, and daily weather forecasts. Users could also exchange messages on the system via the librarian, such as questions and answers about how to deal with farm or garden problems.

Display racks and tables were set up in the main library and three branch libraries for disseminating Extension guide sheets covering agriculture, gardening, home economics, and parks and recreation.4 Library patrons needing additional information on these topics were referred to the county Extension center in Houston. The Texas County Library also made available a video cassette player and a television set for playing Extension videotapes.

Additional cooperative program activities included: (1) providing sites in the main and branch libraries for local supervision of examinations for University Extension independent study courses and (2) having the libraries available for Extension programs and Extension specialists' consultations with individual clients. Other cooperative services evolved out of the project, such as dropping off soil samples at a branch library to be delivered to the Extension center for testing.

More than a year after the pilot project began, we measured the patrons' awareness and use of the Extension materials and services introduced into the libraries. The data were obtained by a telephone survey of a random sample of 350 adults living in Texas County. During the previous year, 196 (56%) of these adults made one or more visits to the Texas County library they patronize most often. More than half (55.6%) of the main library visitors were aware of the availability of the Extension guide sheets and almost one out of five (18.9%) used them. The levels of guide-sheet awareness among the two branch libraries' patrons were also sizable (47.9% and 36.1%), and the proportions of guide -sheet users were even higher than in the main library (23.9% and 21.3%).5 A majority of the main library visitors (53.1%) were also aware of the microcomputer service for Missouri University information on agriculture and book titles, and 13.8% used this service. The video cassette player was made available just a few months before our survey began, and it was shared by the main library and one of the branches. More than one-third (37.5%) of the main library patrons and about one-fourth (27.1%) of the branch library patrons were aware of the video player, but fewer than 10% had made use of it.

Adding the main and branch libraries as outlets greatly expanded the potential audience for receiving Extension information. Holmes notes that: "Few [people] know about county offices-Extension or otherwise. Often, their best source of current-hence useful-information is Cooperative Extension."6 Our data for 328 respondents revealed that only about one-third (36%) had ever visited the Texas County Extension Center. In contrast, three-fourths (75.6%) of the respondents had visited one or more of the four Texas County public libraries. A larger proportion of library patrons than of nonpatrons had visited the Extension center; still, the majority (60.9%) of library patrons had never done so.7

The findings from our pilot project indicated that by working with local libraries, county Extension centers can disseminate useful information to rural clientele in facilities where they're more likely to look for it. Moreover, this innovative way of expanding Extension's informational services can be done with few, if any, additional dollars. We suggest that Extension centers seeking cost savings even explore the possibility of sharing space and personnel with their local libraries. Given that university Extension and county library systems have distinct organizational structures, considerable coordination and arbitration will be needed. Because the pattern of cooperation remained relatively simple in this project, only limited intervention was required. For example, sometimes the bureaucratic procedures of one organization or the other had to be adjusted to implement the project goals and agreements. In more complex organizational environments, however, a greater degree of coordination is likely to be necessary.

1. Francis W. Holmes, "Don't Overlook Libraries," Journal of Extension, XXV (Summer 1987), 29-30.

2. Donna Whitson, "ICLIS: A Wyoming Experience," Action for Libraries, XIII (January 1987), 3-4.

3. Joanne Smith, "Partners in Information: Libraries and USDA Extension Services Working Together to Meet Rural Information Needs" (Paper given at American Library Association 106th Annual Conference, San Francisco, June 30, 1987).

4. Extension guide sheets on parks and recreation were provided only in the main library.

5. The findings for Summersville, the smallest of the three branch libraries, weren't reported because only 20 respondents visited this library most often.

6. Holmes, "Don't Overlook Libraries," p. 29.

7. This study was supported in part by a competitive grant from the University Extension Innovative Programming Fund, Missouri Cooperative Extension Service. We're grateful to Simon Geletta for his computational assistance.