Using the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto as a basis for discussion, this paper examines the role of the public library within developing countries and reviews the major developments in public library services in Africa subsequent to the two UNESCO seminars on Public Library Development held in Nigeria in 1962. A number of key statements from the…

If the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is eventually to serve all citizens with public radio and television, technological and regulatory innovation will be required. Service to rural America and service to specific groups within urban areas cannot be accomplished within the limits of existing technology and existing spectrum allocation…

The study analyzed support patterns for two predominant "liberal" development strategies ("growth centers" and the consolidation of government services) among elites from communities in a largely underdeveloped rural region of Wisconsin. Analytic focus was twofold: (1) to assess overall levels of support among community elites,…

There was a notable transition in the nature, content, and administration of rural policies in many developed nations in the 1980s and 1990s. These changes concerned issues of governance and institutional framework, the definition of "development," and policy goals and content. A key question, however, concerns the extent to which shifts…

Following a nationwide drought in 1982, the Australian government instituted the National Property Management Planning program to build skills in the rural community to better manage the farm business, including the need to manage change. In Victoria, the program is delivered through the Farm$mart project. Farm$mart is: learner centered; involves…

This theme issue includes 13 articles that discuss rural library concerns in Illinois. Topics addressed include strengthening library services; rural trends and their impact on libraries; partnerships; Cooperative Extension Service revitalization; financing; economic development; resource sharing in school libraries; and public libraries and user…

Rural school and community renewal efforts may depend upon a reconceptualization of our democratic institutions and practices. During at least the last 130 years, we have come to judge our democratic institutions on the basis of whether they deliver the goods rather than develop our people. In the name of progress, efficiency, higher standards of…

Recent work by both neoclassical and political economists suggests the scope of the influence of economic structures on rural socioeconomic conditions and rural education. In particular, dual labor-market analyses look beneath the surface of the macroeconomy--the national economy--to the underlying reality of regional or sectoral economic…

In 1977, the government of the Sudan launched the Integrated Rural Development Project with the aim of ruralizing and vocationalizing primary school education. Integrated Rural Education Centres (IRECs) were the first attempt by the government to introduce vocational subjects as part of general education at the primary school level. Unfortunately,…

Questionnaire data from 81 North Carolina communities were analyzed in 1981 to test the hypothesis that 5 institutional subcategories (education, general community services, transportation, agricultural services, and health and sanitation) exhibit the underlying characteristic of unidimensionality and that they reflect comparable levels of…

In 1980, the Office of Continuing Education and Public Service at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign acquired a W. K. Kellogg Foundation grant to establish a 4-year model Community Information and Education Service (CIES). Working with the university's Cooperative Extension Service and five community colleges, CIES initially focused on…

Rural development is a democratic process involving local people in the analysis of their problems. It requires involvement from public and private organizations to deliver technical information, education, resources, organization, and other forms of tangible support. Diversity of lifestyles, changing energy costs, small inexpensive computers, and…

Community service programs of rural community colleges can assist in rural development. Currently some programs focus on educational service to individuals or groups, while others are more direct community development projects. The following trends are indicative of the emergence of the human resources development role in the community college:…

A review of existing research on community attitudes toward energy development in the rural West reveals an apparent paradox, although substantial social and cultural disruptions have resulted from energy development, local residents' opinions have been highly supportive of energy development. While residents may not receive the anticipated degree…

The United States government has no true national rural policy toward education and rural community development. The need exists for the federal government to assume a different role in these areas from what it has traditionally played. In the past the federal education enterprise has failed to relate the design, purpose, or implementation of its…