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Purpose Rural education research has historically been cast in a deficit lens, with rural places characterized by their problems or shortcomings, as if the way of understanding rural itself is to compare it to nonrural locales. These intransigent and narrow perceptions of rurality hinders recognition of the assets and possibilities of rural places. The purpose of this paper is to apply community-empowering, transgressive knowledge to analyses of rural communities to advance rural education research and practice. Design/methodology/approach In this conceptual paper, the authors propose an asset-based, conceptual framework to ground rural research and education practices: rural cultural wealth. Findings The authors describe and explore the concept of rural cultural wealth within the context of education. Furthermore, the authors discuss the dynamics of rurality and propose four constructs that comprise the rural cultural wealth framework, rural resourcefulness, rural ingenuity, rural familism and rural community unity, and consider implications for future research and practice. Originality/value The goal of this paper is to advance a rural cultural wealth framework aimed to interrupt social reproduction of educational inequities that impact rural students.

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Purpose This paper aims to present research on the assets of first-generation college students and offer asset-based practices that can be implemented to support students during emergency transitions. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews the literature related to first-generation college students and cultural wealth and then details practices for implementation by librarians working to enhance the transition to online learning for this student group. Findings The author identified in the literature six assets of first-generation college students: reflexivity, optimism, academic resilience, goal-orientation, civic-mindedness and proactivity. These assets coupled with Yosso’s concept of community cultural wealth provide a frame of reference for examining and implementing services and programs to enhance the educational experience of first-generation college students during emergency transitions. Originality/value Whereas existing literature on first-generation college students assumes a deficit lens, this paper puts forth the cultural assets of this population that may be leveraged by librarians. Student assets are positioned alongside forms of capital that also may be utilized to guide the work of librarians.

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