A. Interview Questions with Rural Librarians
Willingness
1. Would most of your library’s staff be interested in attending training(s) or pursuing certification(s) to better serve the farming community in your area? If not, what would motivate them to attend training(s) or complete certification(s) to better serve the farming community in your area?
2. Can you provide details of any of your library programs attended or services used by farmworkers (i.e., farm laborers, sorters, packers, equipment operators, greenhouse workers, and hand-packagers)?
3. Can you think of any unconventional solutions to better meet the ICT needs of the farming community in your area? ICT refers to computers, mobile phones, mobile apps, etc.
Capabilities
4. Can you talk about your library’s capabilities to meet the information and communication technology needs of the farming community in your area?
5. What training(s) or course(s) would help your librarians to better serve the community?
6. Which of your library’s existing or potential partnerships could be leveraged to better serve the farming community in your area?
7. What are your library staff’s strengths and weaknesses for serving farmworkers?
Needs
8. Can you describe your library’s current needs for better helping the farming community in your area access and use the Internet and other ICT solutions and services?
9. Can you share your library’s current needs to better serve stakeholders across age groups using ICT solutions and services?
10. What ICT skills and solutions are most requested, used, or valuable for the members of the farming community in your area?
Challenges
11. Have you experienced challenges when creating awareness of your programs and services among the local farming communities? If so, please explain.
12. Can you share the internal challenges experienced by your library to meet the ICT needs of the farming community in your area?
13. Can you share the external challenges experienced by your library to meet the ICT needs of the farming community in your area?
14. Have you experienced challenges when serving minority farmworkers? If so, can you share them with us?
B. Focus Group Questions with Local Youth Served by 4-H
- What is your level of comfort in using ICTs?
- What is your level of expertise in using ICTs?
- What do you think about ease of use and digital literacy when it comes to ICTs?
- What are your thoughts on ease of access when it comes to ICTs?
- What purposes do ICTs serve, and what are the expectations surrounding them?
- Do you use social media platforms in your 4-H activities? If so, how?
- Do you use social media platforms for personal reasons? If so, are these uses similar or different to your social media use for 4-H activities?
- Describe your local library usage. For example, how often do you visit the library?
- Do you have anything else that you’d like to add?
C. Interview Questions with 4-H Agents
- Describe your day-to-day role in 4-H.
- What ICTs do you use in your role? Describe your experience.
- Level of comfort
- Level of expertise
- Ease of use (digital literacy)
- Ease of access
- Level of satisfaction
- App/Technology requirements (mandatory/voluntary)
- Expectations of use
- Purpose of use
- Do you experience ICT challenges when working with 4-H youth? If so, describe the ICT challenges you experience when working with 4-H youth.
- Do you have access to high-speed internet? How does this impact your use of ICTs?
- Did you get any training in using ICTs? If so, describe.
- How often do you get this training in using ICTs?
- Do you visit or rely on local libraries through your 4-H programming? If so, why?
- Do you have access to quality and sufficient technical support? Please describe your experience.
- Do you have access to content designed to enable and encourage self-sufficiency?
- Describe how social media platforms are utilized in your 4-H activities.
11. Do you use any social media platforms to collaborate with any stakeholders (e.g., other 4-H agents and youth)?
12. How important are ICT solutions in your personal and professional life? Examples?
13. Describe what increased ICT knowledge and access would allow you to do that you currently cannot. What does a “future world” with better knowledge and access look like? How would this benefit you?
14. Can you recommend community leaders who can talk to us about this subject?
15. Can you identify farmworkers whom we can interview to discover their ICT needs and attitudes toward rural libraries?