Ed Morrison · The Next NEO: Libraries as economic development hubs

July 12th, 2008

Here’s a note from Leslie Scott at the North Carolina Rural Center:

We have seen in NC the emergence of public libraries — business librarians in particular — as key players in networks of people who help entrepreneurs, especially in at least two of our rural regions. Many start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs use the library as a first point of information and it’s great when the business librarian knows the other resource people in the region.

In the Rocky Mount region east of Raleigh there is a group of public libraries across 3 counties working together through a grant-funded project called Business Information Center Outreach Services Program (BICOS) on improving their entrepreneurship-related resources. They are subscribing to more business “intelligence” sources, and they have recently started offering on-site counseling through SCORE. See http://www.bicos-nc.org for more info.

Ms. Leslie A. Scott
Director, Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship
N.C. Rural Center
4021 Carya Drive
Raleigh, NC 27610
919/250-4314
fax: 919/250-4325
www.ncruralcenter.org/entrepreneurship

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Category: Economic Development