The library users of today are more numerous, more highly educated, and more sophisticated than their counterparts of yesterday. Their library needs are more complex, greater in quantity, and more expensive to meet. To do this job will require the full and effective use of the resources of all kinds of libraries working together-public libraries, school libraries, and libraries of colleges and universities.

H.R. 11823, the amended Library Services Act, reflects this need for a coordinated approach to the problem of providing good library service for every citizen. Access to recorded knowledge can no longer be neatly compartmentalized. A survey of Rhode Island libraries now being conducted by Brown University is attempting to assess the total library resources of the State so that the individual library user and the material or information he needs can be brought together quickly and economically.

The various titles of the bill now under consideration reflect the diverse but interrelated needs of public, academic, and school libraries. Only by strengthening the resources of each can we expect to achieve reliable and up-to-date reservoirs of educational and informational materials. The student, the businessman, and the housewife, are frequent users of public libraries. The professional specialist, the research worker, and the independent scholar are frequent users of school and academic collections. Yet more and more often these roles are interchangeable and each change makes new demands on library facilities. This proposed amendment recognizes these mutual problems of different kinds of libraries and represents a solid attempt to cope with them on a unified basis.

As one example of the current information explosion, some 10 million words are added to the cumulative knowledge of mankind every month in the field of chemistry alone. The research chemist must spend a major part of his time simply keeping informed of current developments and this field is among the best organized and indexed. The specialist in other fields must work even harder at this task. No single library, and no one kind of library has the money, space, or staff to cope with the sheer bulk of scientific and technical information now being produced. This job requires a joint enterprise which will promote the cooperative acquisition and use of materials and which will fully exploit modern techniques of information storage and retrieval. The Federal Government has a real and pressing responsibility to give encouragement and support to the building of the kinds of library resources now needed.

Titles I, II, and III of this amendment give proper emphasis to the importance of library materials and services in school, academic, and public libraries. Title IV is aimed directly at a critical need of the library profession, that of securing more and more librarians with the special knowledge and skills now required. Even today there are four or five job openings for every library school graduate and in less than a decade, twice the present number of full-time professional librarians will be required. The public library today is a dynamic and positive force which actively supplements the community agencies of formal education and the public librarian is a skilled interpreter of its resources. A good public librarian in a good library will be able to offer our young people constructive and beneficial alternatives to less acceptable activities. She can provide materials which contribute to more fully informed decisions by citizens and voters; she can help disseminate information which will promote better mental and physical health. A good public librarian will help guide laymen through the growing profusion of special and technical data, much of which affects the lives of each of us.

A well-trained school librarian will build a school library program which is an integral part of the instructional curriculum. She will contribute to the continuous awareness by other faculty members of developments and materials in their fields. She will coordinate the resources and services of the school library with those of the public library and will orient students to the effective use of both. She will alert to the special reading needs of the gifted student and will be able to provide the books and other materials which enrich the basic curriculum.

The librarian at the college and university level will be an information specialist with broad bibliographic knowledge. She will be able to interpret the appropriate data in one special field to a student or teacher in another. She will have an intensive knowledge of her own collection and will guide the user to other specialized collections located elsewhere.

The kinds of librarians now required will of course know their own clientele and how best to serve them, but they will also be highly aware of the total

library situation in their State and region. By making provision for the training of these kinds of personnel, title IV of the proposed amendment does much to assure the effective use of library resources.

A widespread recognition of the fundamental interdependence of libraries of all kinds seems to me to be essential to sound planning. This is not to suggest any centralization of authority, but rather to promote the fullest possible cooperation among libraries. It is significant to note in this connection that the present Library Services Act has been widely praised for lack of any suggestion of Federal control. The autonomy of local library boards and the authority of librarians at both the State and local levels to determine what their needs are in relation to the Federal program have been carefully preserved. The concepts of cooperation and coordination do not imply any arbitrary consolidation of libraries and this bill would, in my judgment, promote the former and avoid the latter. A prudent regard for the preservation of policy and administrative control at the local level is essential for maintaining unbiased and nonpartisan library collections and services. This does not prevent, however, cooperative planning by libraries in order to make the maximum variety of resources conveniently available in the most efficient and economical manner.

The present Library Services Act has been a real milestone in the progress of rural public library service. It stands as tangible evidence of an effective effort by the Federal Government to enrich the library resources of our rural residents and we can all be proud of its success. The expanded program now under consideration will take additional giant steps toward really complete library services for all Americans everywhere. In Rhode Island alone the number of people eligible to receive benefits will increase from 146,054 under the present program to 859,488. I truly believe that knowledge is freedom and that a good library system is a major force in bringing fredom to all citizens in their every endeavor. This is the promise held out by our libraries and each of us has a stake in its fulfillment. I strongly urge your favorable action on this bill.

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES W. TRIMBLE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ARKANSAS

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, it is with great pleasure that I appear this morning in support of legislation extending the Library Services Act. I know of no program which has paid greater dividends in our State.

I urge a favorable report from the committee.

STATEMENT OF HON. EUGENE J. KEOGH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

New York State has some of the finest libraries in the Nation and indeed in the world. Not the least of these are its public libraries, including the New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library. Yet the libraries in this State, like those in the rest of the country, are plagued by a multiplicity of problems.

The Library Services Act of 1956 has had a significant effect on the development of rural library services in the State of New York. The major accomplishment in the past 5 years has been the improvement of the organizational structure of public library service. In 1956 there were only eight library systems plus the Watertown Regional Center. Now there are 22 library systems serving 90 percent of the State's area and population. There has been improvement. too, in the quality of service through the greater development of work with children and young adults and the provision of better reference service. Bookmobile demonstrations have stimulated two library systems to initiate bookmobile service to their rural readers in eight counties. A sizable portion of the Federal grant has gone into the purchase of library materials, including not

only books but approximately 900 films and 1,800 records. The problem of the shortage of trained personnel has been approached through workships, conferences, and other programs of staff inservice training.

The Federal grant-in-aid program has had a favorable result on the State agency itself-stimulating it, improving it, strengthening it. The emphasis on new projects, new plans, and experimentation has had healthy effects.

Yet all these developments have brought more clearly into focus the statewide goals which have yet to be achieved. As fast as library service has grown, the population expansion in New York State has surpassed it.

One of the problems of planning library extension work in New York State, and this would be true of many parts of the United States, is the decentralization of the larger satellites within the metropolitan orbits, with the consequence that the growth of the rural and unincorporated places continues to outstrip the urban and incorporated places. The headaches that infest the modern image of extension work are not the traditional problems of large areas and low density of population which we are still meeting with the traditional instruments of bookmobiles, deposit stations, mail lending service, etc. The main problem is "suburbia," whose population by virtue of the fact that it has chosen to move from urban areas is not only more selective in the environment which it seeks but has a higher place in the middle-income earning brackets, has more education, and is more conditioned to the use and value of library service.

Thus, from the library extension point of view, three major problems take their place beside the traditional extension problem of library service to rural

areas:

(1) The problem of maintaining high-level library service in metropolitan areas with decreasing population attempting to continue support of a library that is being subjected to heavier demands by the inadequate libraries in the suburban ring.

(2) The problem of finding a means of supporting the individual community libraries which spring up in suburban developments and which are in strict competition with schools and other services for the tax dollar.

(3) The problem of coordinating the suburban community libraries and the metropolitan library into a vehicle which cannot only provide equitable library service but is able to utilize the funds from various sources, and provide a means whereby the regional library system is administered by a representative body who will consider the needs and interests of all without subordinating the authority of any existing library unit.

The extent and complexity of these problems is such that they can only be met through the joint support of local, State, and Federal Governments.

Side by side with the problems of public libraries are those of school and college libraries, likewise affected by the increase and mobility of population. An interim report in 1960 by the Committee on Reference and Research Library Resources appointed by the Commissioner of Education of New York State for the purpose of surveying existing reference and research libraries in the State found that despite the vast resources in the libraries maintained by the State's 178 colleges and universities and in other research libraries in New York State, there is inadequate provision for the needs of college and university students, both in respect to their increasing number and the changing character of their studies. Though New York may be better off in respect to school libraries than some States, as U.S. Commissioner of Education McMurrin has noted in testimony on the Library Services Act amendment, the New York City elementary and secondary schools average 21⁄2 volumes per pupil, whereas standards call for a stock of 10 volumes per pupil and the average annual expenditure per pupil for new books in that city is $0.65, as against the Association of School Librarians' standard of $4-$6 per year.

The study of reference and research library problems in New York State previously mentioned and other surveys recently conducted in New York State have recognized the interdependence of all types and levels of libraries within the State. H.R. 11875 also recognizes the need for comprehensive library legislation to build the services of libraries of various types to that level of excellence which the informational requirements of the country demand.

DEPARTMENT OF

Hon. CLEVELAND M. BAILEY,

HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE,
Washington, June 26, 1962.

Chairman, General Subcommittee on Education, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This letter is in response to your request of June 12, 1962, for a report on H.R. 11823, a bill to amend the Library Services Act in order to make areas lacking public libraries or with inadequate public libraries, public elementary and secondary school libraries, and ceratin college and university libraries, eligible for benefits under that act, and for other purposes.

This bill would amend the Library Services Act to (1) authorize the appropriation of $20 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1963, and for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, for making payments to the States which have submitted and have approved by the Commissioner of Education State plans for the further extension of public library services to areas without such services, or with inadequate services; (2) authorize for each of these 5 years the appropriation of $30 million for making grants to State educational agencies to carry out a State plan approved by the Commissioner for the establishment and maintenance of programs of library service in public elementary and secondary schools: (3) authorize for each of these 5 years the appropriation of $10 million to enable the Commissioner to make grants to institutions of higher education for the acquisition for library purposes of books (other than textbooks), periodicals, documents, and other related materials (including necessary binding); and (4) authorize the appropriation of $7.5 million for the first and $10 million for each of the remaining of the 5 years to enable the Commissioner to contract with institutions of higher education for the operation by them of short-term or regular session institutes for the provision of training to improve the qualifications of librarians or individuals preparing to engage in library work.

The programs proposed by this bill are designed to expand the Federal effort to assist in improving our fundamental educational resource-the library and its essent al services to the school, to the scholar, and to the general public. It is a disturbing fact that the Nation, including its schools and colleges, has not maintained library resources adequate to our growing educational needs. The extent of our needs for additional library services will be discussed in some detail in our forthcoming testimony before the General Subcommittee on Education. Among other things, the facts available to us indicate that at least 60 million urban residents have inadequate library service, or none at all, and that there are serious inadequacies in the library resources of our schools and colleges.

The Library Services Act (Public Law 597, 84th Cong.) was enacted in 1956 to promote the further development of public library service in rural counties. It authorized the appropriation of $7.5 million for each of 5 years, and was amended and extended for 5 additional years (until June 30, 1966) by Public Law 86-679. The act provides assistance for library services only for "rural areas," which it defines as those communities having a population of 10.000 or less.

This act has had a dramatic effect in bringing library services to millions of rural residents who were without such services, and improving existing services for an even larger number. Through such means as bookmobiles, and extension libraries, the States and communities have used these funds to reach even isolated areas and families. Moreover, under the stimulus of modest amounts of Federal funds, during the years the program has been in operation, State funds for these services have increased by more than 90 percent and local funds have increased by more than 70 percent, so that the improvements have extended far beyond the Federal program.

Much remains to be accomplished in the improvement of rural library services, but a point has been reached in which the need for improved services is about equally balanced between urban and rural populations, and further strengthening of library systems should be undertaken without regard to arbitrary population limitations. What is most required is the establishment of coordinated statewide programs in which central library resources located in urban areas are utilized to serve all areas of the State and, particularly, to strengthen and enrich small libraries through the exchange and circulation of books, materials, and personnel.

In our increasing national concern for the quality of formal education, we must not overlook the central importance of adequate school and college libraries. Nearly 11 million public school children, including over half of those in public elementary schools, attend schools in which there is no library. At the higher education level, about 60 percent of our 4-year colleges have fewer than 50,000 volumes in the library, and nearly 90 percent of our junior colleges have less than 20,000 volumes. These collections are small when measured by accepted academic standards.

Finally, this bill would authorize over the 5-year period the appropriation of an aggregate of $47.5 million to finance the operation by colleges and universities of short-term and regular session institutes for librarians, in order to improve their qualifications. The upgrading and updating of the professional competence and knowledge of librarians is an essential feature of a coordinated effort to improve library services. Similar institutes, arranged by the National Science Foundation and by the Office of Education for teachers of science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages, and for school counseling and guidance personnel, have amply demonstrated the effectiveness of such a program. As these institutes would also enroll individuals planning to engage in labrary work, they would provide an additional means of increasing the number of librarians.

In our judgment, additional Federal action is needed to assist in the general improvement of library services available to the general public, to public school children, and to the students in our colleges and universities. In the limited time which has been available since this bill was introduced, we have not been able to complete our studies of the appropriate amounts of Federal funds which should be allocated to these programs and to explore fully other important questions involved in the administration of the bill. We will continue our studies of these matters.

We are advised by the Bureau of the Budget that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the administration's program.

Sincerely,

ABE RIBICOFF, Secretary.

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION,
Harrisburg, June 28, 1962.

Hon. CLEVELAND M. BAILEY,

Chairman, House General Subcommittee on Education,
Washington, D.C.

MY DEAR MR. BAILEY: I strongly urge support of H.R. 11823, comprehensive bill to amend the Library Services Act, if the amendments suggested for title IV could be made.

Since I am responsible for the development of school libraries in Pennsylvania, I shall confine my remarks to titles II and IV.

Title II is excellent. One of the many good features of this title is its provision for administration by the State educational agency. This is not only strengthens State and local governments, all helps to insure an economical expenditure of funds through a comprehensive plan based on the total needs of a particular State.

Title IV, Library Training Institutes, would be strengthened by the following amendment beginning on line 12: "to enable the Commissioner to arrange contracts, on the basis of a plan developed by the State educational agency, with institutions of higher education for the operation by them of short-term or regular session institutes * **""

I, along with others, am worried about the tendency of late for the U.S. Office of Education to bypass the State educational agency. We know, or should know, how to coordinate resources for the best interest of the citizens of Pennsylvania. It is doubtful if the Federal Government and the local institutions with which it contracts are able to determine which one of several approaches is likely to be in the interest of all Pennsylvanians.

A public agency, such as the State educational agency or other appropriate State agency, should mediate between the Federal and the local or private interest to insure to the citizens of Pennsylvania that their money is being spent in the public, not the private, interest.