This annotated bibliography grew out of the need to extract information and opinion about educational policy-making boards in rural areas from the mass of governing board literature, since rural education institutions have distinct differences from urban ones in terms of financial support, student numbers, isolation, and resources. Annotated references are listed under 11 subjects identified as primary to the study of rural boards of educational governance: rural areas--general background; rural education and schools, BOCES; boards of educational governance--general background, role, policy and decision making; rural school boards; school board member and trustee recruitment patterns; characteristics of school board members and leaders; characteristics of community college trustees; women and boards of educational governance; minorities and boards of educational governance; school boards, trustees--community representativeness and relations; and statistical data. Focus of the materials is on structure and processes of rural boards of educational governance in K-12 school districts and two-year colleges. Each annotation is coded to one or more subject section; the majority of the 86 references are from the sixties and seventies, though a landmark study on social composition of boards of education in 1926 is included. (RS)