How Do Public Libraries Assist Small Businesses in Rural Communities? An Exploratory Qualitative Study in Tennessee

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how public libraries assist small businesses in rural communities in the state of Tennessee in the United States. Tennessee's rural residents, especially in its Appalachian counties, face debilitating economic and social challenges such as inadequate financial prospects, information poverty, unemployment and low degrees of information literacy and educational attainment. The article presents findings from interviews and focus groups with 25 public library small business liaison representatives gathering input about their needs, expectations and experiences with rural public libraries. The foci are the existing and proposed ways rural public libraries provide small business assistance and identify components of a Public Library Small Business Toolkit, an ideal resource that Tennessee's rural public libraries can implement for small businesses in the future, with the end goal to further ways for rural public libraries to contribute towards economic development in Tennessee. Findings reveal existing roles of rural public libraries in providing physical space and resource assistance for categorized information on government, finance, insurance, taxes and rules/requirements while proposed roles extend to development of tailored skill trainings, start-up services and local information coordination. Future research considerations for public library small business liaisons are also discussed so they can extend assistance to small businesses in Tennessee and other parts of the country.