Publications & Reports

Report: The digital inclusion role of rural libraries: social inequalities through space and place

Abstract: A great deal of scholarship on broadband deployment and federal policies has positioned rural America through a deficit framework: rural parts of the country have older populations (and therefore not tech savvy), are poor (and therefore justifiably ignored by the market), too remote (therefore outside of legitimate profit-making enterprise), and losing population (and therefore significance). This research examines rural Internet connectivity through the lens of local libraries lending hotspots for Internet connectivity. Qualitative data gathered in 24 rural communities in Kansas and Maine undercut simplistic notions regarding how communication systems operate in environments ignored by normative market operations. Financial precarity and pressures from social and economic institutions compel rurally based individuals and families to assemble piecemeal Internet presence and connectivity. The public library plays a crucial role in providing Internet resources and stands out in the rural environment as a site that straddles public trust and local.

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Reports List

Policy Briefs Children and the Internet: Parental Concerns and Internet Site DataDr. Sharon Strover, Ellen Wartella, Pat Stout, & Jef RichardsDownload Libraries in a Networked TexasDr. Philip DotyDownload Rural Implications of H.R. 1542: The Internet Freedom and...

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Research in the Press

"How to Hot Spot" by Christina Vercelleto hosted on the Tech Knowledge blog on the Website, Library Journal:  http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2017/09/lj-in-print/hot-spot-techknowledge/#_  D-Lib Magazine: The Magazine of Digital Library Research, "At the Edges of the...

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