Rural Library Opportunity Zones: Mapping Rural Library Employment Opportunities Using Quantum GIS

Abstract

This paper uses Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) to locate library employment opportunities in Rural Opportunity Zones (ROZ): counties in the state of Kansas that offer student loan repayment and income tax waivers for five years for qualified individuals. Counties are displayed on a QGIS map that includes school district lines, hospitals, public libraries, and population densities. The counties in ROZ are compared using three measures: how many libraries are in the county; the standard of living in the county; and leisure activities that are near or in the county. The rural library opportunities are compared to urban library opportunities in Kansas, to illustrate how comparable the opportunities are at rural and urban libraries, with regard to average annual wages for employees, library use statistics, and collection size. The researcher concluded that many excellent job opportunities exist for library professionals and paraprofessionals in ROZ. The researcher also concluded that QGIS is a helpful and easy-to-use tool for comparing data in a geographical display.