The papers selected for this reader represent the broad range of "practice oriented" interests, problems, populations, and interventions found in both rural social work and at the Seventh National Institute. Section 1 contains four papers which deal with program development and community practice, i.e., planning social services in a nonmetropolitan area, rural networks, volunteer programs, and rural community education. Rural elderly are addressed in section 2 via papers on social work consultants, in-service needs of nursing home staff, and preparation of practitioners to work with the rural elderly. In section 3, abusing and neglecting families in rural areas are addressed in terms of education programs for abusing parents, teenage victims of incest, and incestuous fathers. Section 4 covers rural youth services via three papers on adolescents' perceptions of human services agencies, child protective services, and social work in rural schools. Concluding the reader is a section containing three papers on social work education and practice in rural areas. (AH)