The objective of this study was to define the attitudes of a representative sample of rural New England citizens concerning their town libraries in order to identify the motivational factors necessary for adequate rural library "se and support. Study data were collected mainly through personal interviews involving 749 representative respondents from nine small towns in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, with questionnaires administered to households, library trustees, and librarians. This study report includes a review of published literature on rural libraries, a statement on research design, community portraits, descriptive and analytical statistics from the user survey, a discussion of the librarian and trustee interviews, an analysis of ten years of library support in one community, a review of rural library costs and financial support, conclusions based on an analysis of the survey, a review of trends in rural library service, and recommendations for improvement of town libraries. The study documents the reasons why rural New England citizens either use or reject the library, and it reveals an overall lack of fiscal and civic support for libraries, an absence of library leadership, and the fact that the majority of the libraries surveyed fall far short of meeting minimal standards. Appendixes include methodological observations and the research and survey instruments. (JB)