Project Description
COVID-19 brought new challenges regarding health care, unemployment, and poverty to the steps of libraries. Our focus is rural libraries, given the urgent needs and lack of resources in these areas, especially as most library social services are currently provided in metropolitan areas. To achieve our project goal of developing a social service model in public libraries, we will (1) explore rural communities’ diversifying needs and rural libraries’ existing efforts to meet those needs and (2) design a prototype social service that can be used in rural libraries. Our overarching research question is: How can rural libraries meet communities’ psychosocial needs?
Multi-phased studies will be conducted employing various methods, including surveys, interviews, and an environmental scan. During the project period, we will actively collaborate with The Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) to collect data and also receive community feedback. We will also have four partner libraries during our prototype design process to embed practical perspectives. As an interdisciplinary research project, our findings will provide implications across the domains of Library & Information Science and Social Work.
Our findings will broaden the understanding of library social services and the role of library social workers. Our prototype model can potentially be implemented at various locations if validated on a national scale, which can be a useful resource/tool for rural libraries to help meet community needs. The research outcomes will also impact library practices and their communities by bringing attention and awareness to potential barriers and opportunities for rural social services, while offering an additional way of serving rural communities for social work practitioners. Our project can provide implications for LIS and Social Work education by identifying the necessary skills and knowledge relevant to social services in rural contexts.
