Image courtesy of the Association of Rural and Small Libraries

In an era of escalating book bans and coordinated attacks on public libraries, it’s more important than ever to champion access to diverse and inclusive literature in those spaces. This is true whether a library is a massive urban system, a well-funded suburban institution, or a tiny rural library.

But even with tight budgets and sometimes challenging situations, small and rural libraries are doing the work to ensure their collections both meet the needs of the community and showcase the diversity in their backyards–and beyond.

“Small and rural libraries face these challenges with a fraction of the staff and budget of their urban counterparts,” explains the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL), who asked their members what building a diverse collection actually looks like in their communities.

• Of the member libraries that responded, most of them serve fewer than 5,000 people, and a few serve fewer than 1,000. 

• More than half (56%) named budget as a direct barrier to building a diverse collection.

• 42% percent pointed to something harder to solve with money alone: local demand that simply is not there yet for certain titles.

• Of those 42%, only 15% cited a specific law or policy shaping their purchasing, but those few described some of the most serious external pressure in the entire survey.

“It is important for folks to see them on the shelves, even if some patrons will not read them,” a Connecticut executive director said.

A Kansas collections librarian put it more bluntly: “Why buy these diverse titles if they never check out?” And then she kept doing it anyway, because a community’s newer or quieter neighbors deserve to find themselves in the library, too.

Read the full report from the Association of Rural & Small Libraries to understand the importance of this work–and where and how librarians are rising to the responsibility. – KJ