Perspectives of East Tennessee's Rural Public Librarians About the Extent of Need for Professional Library Education: A Pilot Study (Report‪)‬

Background The U. S. Census Bureau defines "rural" as areas with fewer than 2,500 people and open territory (Economic Research Service, 2007). The Encyclopedia of Rural America defines the related concept of "nonmetropolitan" counties to describe the spread of housing developments outside the boundaries of metro areas that have no cities with as many as 50,000 residents (Rathge, 1997, p. 627), in addition to being non-urbanized (Office of Management and Budget, 1998). The word "rural" in this article is used with regard to both meanings.