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Bookmobiles have been an important part of public library service for over a century. Traditionally they have delivered recreational reading material, but new technologies now make it possible for high‐tech bookmobiles to provide a full range of information services. Telecommunications options such as mobile data radio, cellular telephone, and the use of satellites make online circulation, database searching, and facsimile service feasible for library mobile units. Optical disc and other compact storage technologies as well as state‐of‐the‐art navigation systems also have bookmobile applications. Unfortunately, the high cost of technology, particularly for mobile telecommunications, is among the problems delaying the development and commonplace use of ‘electronic bookmobiles’.

This chapter presents a historical analysis of how rural and small libraries have traditionally used nontheatrical film, including a discussion of how bookmobiles presented these materials to persons in broader service areas. After establishing the entertainment and educational benefits patrons historically received from the screening of these materials, the author transitions to discuss how recently established regional film archives and other organizations have made significant strides in recent years in preserving motion pictures that document local and regional culture. The chapter concludes with an analysis of how rural and small libraries can work with regional motion picture archives to design screenings and other programs that fulfill traditional roles of entertaining and educating patrons while also reaffirming local cultural identity.

Summative research and archival sources provide the foundations for the discussion of the role and purpose of film in rural and small libraries. Specific libraries and collections serve as case studies.

• Small-gauge motion pictures were popular with rural library and bookmobile patrons during the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, bringing entertainment and information to persons who normally had limited options in these areas due to geographic barriers.

• Regional film archives and nontheatrical film advocacy organizations have emerged during recent decades, collecting previously overlooked materials that can help reaffirm local and regional culture.

• Several regional film archives have already collaborated with rural and small libraries as well as other local institutions, providing a roadmap for libraries that wish to expand their cultural-heritage-oriented ­programming.

Small-gauge motion pictures were popular with rural library and bookmobile patrons during the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, bringing entertainment and information to persons who normally had limited options in these areas due to geographic barriers.

Regional film archives and nontheatrical film advocacy organizations have emerged during recent decades, collecting previously overlooked materials that can help reaffirm local and regional culture.

Several regional film archives have already collaborated with rural and small libraries as well as other local institutions, providing a roadmap for libraries that wish to expand their cultural-heritage-oriented ­programming.

Numerous scholars have published studies on regional and local nontheatrical film in recent decades, but relatively little has been written to connect these films with their value to rural public libraries and their constituents. By beginning with a historical analysis of how films have traditionally been of value to these audiences, the author is able to transition to presenting ideas on how nontheatrical works can continue to be of value in rural contexts. This has practical applications for rural libraries and other rural cultural organizations throughout the United States.

FINNISH ARCHITECTURE has won fame and honour. This applies to the best of it, of course, the achievements suitable for export and as a trade mark. Our world image tells nothing of our middling, ordinary buildings. Finland probably has just as many deficiently planned and poorly implemented monstrosities as most other countries. But it is probably characteristic that the end product is technically quite polished. The building regulations are exceptionally precise, partly because of our harsh climate, partly because of the bureaucratic tradition of our administrative machinery.

As non‐traditiona! entry to higher education increases, combined with high quality distance education and parttime learning opportunities which create an emphasis on the concept of “lifelong learning”, the demand for learning resources and library services in all communities will increase. Provided that public libraries can rise to the inherent challenges in meeting the needs of lifelong learners, they will become the institution of choice for the general public for support of learning and education, offering prospective learners potential access to a wide range of high quality learning resources, no matter where they, or the resources, may be geographically situated. In this, by taking advantage of the advances of technology, the mobile library may expand its traditional role and be a major player in repositioning the library as an information broker in support of lifelong learning in remote or marginalised communities.

This paper aims to highlight recent and near-future innovations relating to mobile access that can facilitate new interactions between patrons and libraries.

This paper explores mobile hotspots that allow library patrons to “check out” the Internet to access a world of information, as well as the related technologies on the horizon that are poised to transform Internet access worldwide. Innovative libraries and vendors are catching up to the implications of “mobile” beyond the Web interface and are making their collections and technological offerings available using re-envisioned bookmobiles, servers and library circulation modules.

This paper finds that, by using new and cleverly reconfigured technology, libraries can continue to play a central role in the sharing of information in an increasingly mobile world.

This paper demonstrates that the technological infrastructure that supports mobile libraries will continue to develop and expand access to information around the globe.

WHEN THE LIBRARY WORLD asked me for a letter from Finland, I was very glad, for I like writing letters. To me it is a pleasure to write letters. Of course it is equally pleasant to receive letters, and I hope that we can soon receive a letter from Great Britain as a reply for our journal Kirjastolehti.

SPECIAL NUMBERS OUR SPECIAL NUMBER on Indian libraries and librarianship issued in March was very well received and we have had letters and comments from librarians both in Britain and the United States. Thanks are due to our Indian contributors for helping us to produce the issue. The policy of publishing special numbers of The Library World is to continue and the August issue will be devoted to library development in Nigeria. Later this year we plan special issues on the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and on South Africa.

This chapter explores differences in fringe, distant, and remote rural public library assets for asset-based community development (ABCD) and the relationships of those assets to geographic regions, governance structures, and demographics.

The author analyzes 2013 data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture using nonparametric statistics and data mining random forest supervised classification algorithms.

There are statistically significant differences between fringe, distant, and remote library assets. Unexpectedly, median per capita outlets (along with service hours and staff) increase as distances from urban areas increase. The Southeast region ranks high in unemployment and poverty and low in median household income, which aligns with the Southeast’s low median per capita library expenditures, staff, hours, inventory, and programs. However, the Southeast’s relatively high percentage of rural libraries with at least one staff member with a Master of Library and Information Science promises future asset growth in those libraries. State and federal contributions to Alaska libraries propelled the remote Far West to the number one ranking in median per capita staff, inventory, and programs.

This study is based on IMLS library system-wide data and does not include rural library branches operated by nonrural central libraries.

State and federal contributions to rural libraries increase economic, cultural, and social capital creation in the most remote communities. On a per capita basis, economic capital from state and federal agencies assists small, remote rural libraries in providing infrastructure and services that are more closely aligned with libraries in more populated areas and increases library assets available for ABCD initiatives in otherwise underserved communities.

Even the smallest rural library can contribute to ABCD initiatives by connecting their communities to outside resources and creating new economic, cultural, and social assets.

Analyzing rural public library assets within their geographic, political, and demographic contexts highlights their potential contributions to ABCD initiatives.