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Rural to me is a town under 2,000 people.
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1. Rural to me is a library in a town of under 5,000 people.
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1. I define rural as an area that relies on farming as
the main economic contributor to the community.

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1. How do you define rural? Less than 5,000 population.
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1. I would say we are excellent example of rural library.
Our town, <500, in 2000 had a population of 414.. we are
now smaller. We also service the surrounding area, which is
about 4 townships.. We service the local school, which is
the only way we maintain a high circulation.
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1. How do you define rural? I define rural as a community of less than 10,000 and more than 30 miles from a metropolitan area
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Define rural: Open country, ag related area, small town.

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The question was asked on a list in a primarily “rural” state of rural serving librarians.
Here are some of the edited answers, identifications removed to protect the over worked and under paid.

How do you define rural?

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Here in (IA >1000 <1500), we define rural patrons as those out of the city limits.

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1. How do you define rural? Some say 25,000 or under, some say 10,000 or under, but I think the small or rural library has more to do with a feeling of connectedness to your community. Small, for me, has come to mean coziness / welcoming / confidence in our place in our small worlds. Large or small populations can achieve this feeling. Do we focus on numbers or people? Do we focus on our achievements or our worth to our cities/towns? I think those who define themselves as being from a small library tend to choose the latter in both cases.
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I've heard "rural" described as "more than 20 minutes to McDonald's", but I think that, in today's world with enhanced communications technologies, rural would be defined more by population densities. One county where I worked (in the public library) had an average of about 15 people per square mile -- mostly concentrated in the southern part. The local school district was geographically larger than the state of Rhode Island…
I have found that the folks who come to small city and rural libraries are more likely to view the library as a community gathering spot than the people who use "city" libraries. For many rural people, coming "to town" and to the library provides a major source of human interaction. To many of these folks, the library staff members become friends and confidants.

Although in general I think of it as under 10,000, I believe my county at 19,000 is still very rural. Perhaps their needs to be an agricultural component?

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