Topics of importance to rural America in three general areas--rural community and individual information needs, available answers to these needs, and policies and strategies to meet these needs--were addressed in a joint congressional hearing held at the Fourth General Assembly of the World Future Society in July 1982. This transcript presents oral statements by 11 witnesses representing information providers, intermediaries (librarians and extension workers), and rural user groups; written testimony submitted for the official record; and five appendices. Testifying on the information needs of rural America and the services being developed to meet them, the witnesses emphasized that America's rural economy and well-being depend on an information infrastructure that is now technically possible and economically feasible. Written testimony includes statements by Senator Larry Pressler, Patricia E. Klinck (Vermont State Librarian), and Daniel H. Carter (Texas Instruments, Inc.); a position paper, "Telelearning for Rural America," by William R. Oates (University of Alabama); and letters from Senator Arlen Specter and DeAnn Hilmoe (St. Mary's Hospital, Pierre, South Dakota). Appendices contain a paper, "Government Publishing: Problems and Prospects," by Senator Charles Mathias; a report, "Reference Services in Rural Public Libraries in Communities of 25,000 or Fewer People," by Bernard Vavrek; comments of members of the White House Conference on Library and Information Services Taskforce; and the text of Public Law 91-345 and Public Law 97-98. (THC)