4. Plan of Work--Bibliographic Analysis


station publications previously filmed as part of the NAL sponsored cooperative microfilming project will
be excluded from this project.

The definition of rural society that will be covered by the project can be characterized by Dr. Albert R.
Mann's definition: "the study of associated or group activities of the people who live in the country
viewed from the standpoint of the effect of these activities on the character of the farm people
themselves." Also included is the effect of outside influences (e.g. advertising, technology, war,
immigration) on the activities and character of rural people and communities. Broad subject areas
include the following:

Rural society: family farming; the farm home and family; rural communities; standards of living in
rural communities; rural organizations, e.g. agricultural societies, Grange, Farm and Home bureau, 4-H,
and similar organizations, church and improvement societies; rural political organizations and farmers'
movements; farm demographics; rural communications: rural radio programming; the
centralization/consolidation of schools; nature study movement; country life movement; rural play and
recreation activities; county and local fairs; cooperative extension services; farm people's attitudes and
opinions; development of rural leadership; selected mail order catalogs of interest to farm families; role
of women in farm life and rural communities; role of immigrants and immigrant populations in rural
societies; employment of migrant workers; Rural Free Delivery; automobiles and rural life; rural
architecture; rural health and medical care; rural social services, welfare, and social security; rural art;
rural water supply and waste water treatment; rural land use and planning.

Rural economy: agricultural economics; farm organization and management; production economics;
food distribution; state food supply; statistical data; agricultural prices; marketing of agricultural
products; state agricultural and food policies; cooperatives; agricultural finance; land economics and land
use; land tenure; marketing of agricultural products; rural economy other than farm economy; food
imports.

Technical agriculture: farming, food and nonfood agricultural products; -major, minor, and
experimental crops; agronomic techniques, including plant breeding; animal science; forestry; crop
insects and diseases and their control; food science; agricultural engineering (farm equipment, farm
structures, agricultural technology); rural transportation; natural resources pertaining to agriculture (soils,
water, meteorology) and their conservation.

4.3.2 Compilation of the Bibliography for each State

During this stage of the project, participating libraries will systematically identify the universe of
publications on agriculture and rural life in their respective states. (For four of the states included in this
proposal, this work was accomplished during the Phase 1 project funded by NEH from June 1995 June
1997.) The object is to identify the state and local literature as a whole--not just the titles held in each of
the library's collections. Therefore, depending on the state, the lead library will seek the cooperation of
one or more other libraries such as the state library, state historical society library, another research
library, and/or the state's historically black land grant university in order to identify the universe of
relevant materials.

The first Project Managers Meeting will be held in conjunction with the 1998 annual meeting of the
American Library Association in Washington D.C. At this meeting, the project parameters established
during the proposal development stage and put into place during Phase 1 will be further refined.
Institutional project managers will receive training on the bibliographic process from Sam Demas and
Wallace Olsen. They will provide instruction and consultation on developing scope statements and the
compilation of the bibliographies, based on the methods developed in the New York State project and the
Phase 1 project.