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The links between expenditure and service provision on rural public libraries in Scotland are analysed, and patterns of provision between authorities noted. Conclusions are drawn concerning the adequacy of provision in these areas, the effects of the new community charge and patterns of public library provision.

The roles of ‘conventional’ (fixed-route and fixed-timetable) bus services is examined and compared to demand-responsive services, taking rural areas in England as the basis for comparison. It adopts a ‘rural’ definition of settlements under a population of 10,000.

Evidence from the National Travel Survey, technical press reports and academic work is brought together to examine the overall picture.

Inter-urban services between towns can provide a cost-effective way of serving rural areas where smaller settlements are suitably located. The cost structures of both fixed-route and demand-responsive services indicate that staff time and cost associated with vehicle provision are the main elements. Demand-responsive services may enable larger areas to be covered, to meet planning objectives of ensuring a minimum of level of service, but experience often shows high unit cost and public expenditure per passenger trip. Economic evaluation indicates user benefits per passenger trip of similar magnitude to existing average public expenditure per trip on fixed-route services. Considerable scope exists for improvements to conventional services through better marketing and service reliability.

The main issue in England is the level of funding for rural services in general, and the importance attached to serving those without access to cars in such areas.

The boundary between fixed-route and demand-responsive operation may lie at relatively low population densities.

The chapter uses statistical data, academic research and operator experience of enhanced conventional bus services to provide a synthesis of outcomes in rural areas.

This paper seeks to explore the views and experiences of female offenders with problem drug/alcohol use living in rural areas and to provide their perspectives on shortcomings in support services.

The research used in‐depth interviews with (ex) female offenders with problem drug/alcohol use living in rural areas in the East of England.

The research indicates that the barriers to adequate provision of services for women in rural areas have distinct, but overlapping, gender and geographical elements. Gender issues centre on the failure to see the female offenders in the context of their roles as mothers and partners. The geographical element includes a significant and under‐reported lack of public transport and childcare support.

Given the localised and opportunistic nature of the study, no attempt is made to claim that one can necessarily generalise from these results to all rural areas.

Increased recognition of women attending drug/alcohol support services as mothers with children, faced with problems of organising childcare, or accessing public transport. This is exacerbated by inadequate, public transport provision.

The importance of service providers recognizing the insight which clients could provide through their own lived experiences as users of services. In a rural situation with thinly spread provision, the importance of women‐only provision should not take precedence over quality of service provision.

Taking urban-rural disparity into account, this research examines the current service provision of preschool education at the local level in China.

Following a qualitative design, the research is based on a case study on the preschool service provision in Luochuan County in China, with data collected from semi-structured interviews with grassroots officials and residents from the county’s rural and urban regions.

This research finds that preschool services are inefficiently delivered between the county’s rural and urban areas. While services are oversupplied in rural regions, the popular demand for urban kindergartens is inadequately addressed. Moreover, the tuition subsidy offered by the local government has drastically decreased in recent years.

This research is confined to a single-case study, so its findings are not necessarily applicable to all Chinese localities. Nevertheless, it proves that these problems in preschool service provision can be a result of the central authority’s tight control.

Given China’s rapid urbanization and fertility decline, this research argues that overinvestment in rural kindergartens can be a widespread phenomenon throughout China. It also suggests a decreasing popular demand for other public services, such as childcare, in Chinese rural regions. This research calls for special attention to the persistent regional discrepancy in preschool service standards and the welfare cuts after the revenue centralization reform.

This research contributes to a clearer picture of the current preschool service delivery by Chinese local governments, which remains largely underexplored by far. It also provides updates on the country’s long-existing urban-rural discrepancy in preschool services.

This research paper explores alternatives to the mobile library service in providing a public library service to rural communities in England and the impacts of best value, public library standards and social inclusion policy on provision. A questionnaire survey was completed by librarians in public library authorities in England with rural hinterlands. The data derived were supplemented by follow‐up case studies. It was found that achieving social inclusion objectives and the results of best value reviews were the greatest motivating factors for much of the development of alternative library service delivery in rural areas, and that village halls were the most popular place for co‐location of library services. ICT was felt to have impacted positively on rural library service delivery and its use was demonstrated in co‐location facilities and learning centres. However, some authorities fail to consult users and non‐users in rural locations. This paper provides public library practitioners and researchers with a picture of public library service provision to rural area communities and shows the impact of Government‐driven policy. It appears that there is varying appreciation by public library authorities of rural communities’ distinct nature.

Municipalities seek new opportunities for co-producing services in rural areas. One potential partner is community-based social enterprises (CBSEs). However, whilst service co-production through CBSEs obscures the traditional roles of actors, it may lead to a legitimation crisis in local service provision. In this paper, the ways CBSEs are legitimised as service providers in rural areas are addressed from the CBSE and municipality perspectives.

Empirical data combine interviews with CBSE representatives and open-ended national survey responses from municipality decision-makers. The data analysis is based on a qualitative content analysis to examine legitimation arguments.

Results show that unestablished legitimacy and un-institutionalised support structures for co-production models build mistrust between CBSEs and municipalities, which prevents the parties from seeing the benefits of cooperation in service production.

The research focusses on the legitimation of CBSEs in service co-production in rural areas. As legitimation seems to be a context-specific process, future research is needed regarding other contexts.

Municipalities interested in the co-production of services might benefit from establishing a collaborative and responsive (rural) service policy forum that would institutionalise new models of co-production and enable better design and governance of service provision.

Results will give new theoretical and practical insights into the importance of legitimacy in the development of service co-production relationships.

Discusses alternative methods of providing a public library service to one‐house stop clients of south Lincolnshire’s mobile libraries. A literature review revealed a lack of up‐to‐date cost information for alternative methods of service provision. Four methods were selected for further investigation: books by mail; village shop libraries; extending the housebound service; and transporting clients to the library. Annual cost and cost per issue were calculated and compared to the cost of the mobile library. Staff and users were also surveyed for their opinions of the current service and the alternative methods proposed. The results of the costing exercises showed that transporting users to the library was the most cost effective method but this was not popular with the current users of the service. Services considering replacing the one‐house stop mobile service will also need to consider issues including social inclusion, best value and the public library standards.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the historical development of the rural library services in Africa, and highlight modern rural village libraries in Ghana and Burkina Faso within this context.

The information in the article comes from a number of different impact studies, including one research study of the rural village libraries in Ghana and one research study of the rural village libraries in Burkina Faso. In particular, the studies examined the impact and role of the libraries on the communities they serve, and enquiries included library use by students, reading habits, leisure reading, attitudes of community members towards the library, and the library's role in academic support. The methodology included focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, examination of library circulation information, and many hours of observation. A review of the professional literature is also provided to contextualize the historical review and the findings from the studies.

Findings indicate the rural village libraries in Ghana and Burkina Faso are successful village/community libraries that are of great benefit to their users. The models for development of these libraries might be used in other similar rural villages to serve both schools and the community.

Future research might include the review and evaluation of other rural libraries in Asia, the Caribbean, and South America, and an analysis of their impact and sustainability.

The information presented in this paper offers some basic considerations in terms of the implementation of rural library services, which have great potential to bridge information gaps in rural areas. Provision of such services is becoming increasingly important as more and more of the world's population desires to become literate. At the same time, efforts to provide access to information must integrate cultural practices, local languages and traditions, and operate from a place of respect and understanding by involving those who will be served in outreach efforts.

The paper builds on previous studies of rural village libraries in Uganda, and provides more support for the village/community library concept as being a potentially powerful solution for provision of reading materials in rural areas. Literacy continues to be a major factor in terms of economic and personal development in underdeveloped nations, and all libraries, but perhaps these small village libraries even more so, have the potential to play an important role in the eradication of illiteracy, development of a reading culture, and provision of services for the “newly literate”.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the financing and provision of basic public services in China. The main issue addressed is how to reform the public finance system to achieve quality and fairness in the provision of basic public services.

Based on an historical analysis of the functional transformation of the public finance system in China and on an empirical analysis of the current public finance system and the public service provision system, a comprehensive understanding was gained about the relationship between the financing and provision of basic public services.

The paper argues that there is a close relationship between the provision of basic public services and the functional changes made to the public finance system. Based on a systematic retrospective study of the Chinese Government’s efforts to improve basic public services over the last three decades, this paper offers policy suggestions on further public finance restructuring that would support better service provision.

By analyzing issues in the public service provision system, this paper contributes to the debate about the efficiency improvement made to governmental functions in China.

To ascertain customers' usage level and perceptions of the image of rural community banks (RCBs) in Ghana. This research examines whether women and men differ in their levels of satisfaction and expectation about the banks' services. It also assesses the contribution of RCBs towards infrastructural development in the rural areas.

Both desk and primary research methods were employed. Face‐to‐face interviews took place in 15 bank branches in the eastern region of Ghana. Over 170 respondents consisting of 105 males and 65 females co‐operated for this study. Analyses are presented in a statistical format using mean score and t‐test.

RCBs are perceived as fairly active in rural infrastructural development, and have collaborated with NGOs to help identify, mobilise and educate rural groups in the usage and benefits of banking services. Men and women are gradually cultivating the banking culture. Both genders perceive the quality of financial advice, provision of information and service delivery as areas that need significant improvement. There are no significant differences between both genders in their perceptions and expectation of the banks services.

The sample size was limited to only one part of Ghana and may not be entirely representative.

This study provides a meaningful insight into consumer behaviour in rural banking sector and useful platform for future studies in marketing of financial services in a developing country context.

The study is unique in that it looks at a rural banking service provision in a sub‐Sahara African country, a setting that markedly differs from the traditional high street banks sectors in the developed world. The results will enable financial service providers to consider the changing needs and wants of RCBs customers.