system, including public libraries, to the defense and survival of our Nation. He pointed out that untrained minds cannot build the machines required to maintain peace, conquer outer space or solve practical problems.

Cosponsored by the Polytechnic Institute, the Brooklyn Public Library presented a series of five lectures titled "Science and You." Intended for the layman, the series included such topics as "Modern Medical Discoveries," "Explosion of Science," "Modern Plastics," and "Science and Crime Detection."

On the assumption that "knowledge dispels fear," the Fort Worth Public Library, cooperating with the city's adult education department, presented a series of three panel discussions on the atom. Representatives of industry, higher education, civil defense, and the armed services discussed fission, fusion, and fallout.

SCIENCE TALENT AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Although a considerable number of libraries mention that science fair and science talent winners are often regular public library users, Mary Gaver (in LJ Feb. 15, 1961) suggests that the public library is not quite the important source of help and inspiration it might be.

Be that as it may, in 1960 the Brooklyn Public Library chalked up its third winner in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search as a regular borrower, particularly of the Science and Industry Division of the Central Library.

In rural Nebraska, three teenagers received inspiration, encouragement, and assistance in their science projects from the staff of the bookmobile of the South Central Regional Library in Holdrege. The boys used books borrowed from the mobile unit, their only source of technical materials, to set up home laboratories: one for radio and television repair, a second for chemistry experiments, and the third for radio communication and short wave. The regional library, originally a Library Services Act demonstration project, provided the necessary materials, reference services, and reading guidance, and provided proof that living in rural America was no handicap to access to the wonderful world of books.

TELLING THE LIBRARY STORY

Booklists, displays, exhibits, newspaper stories, and newsletters all contribute to a better informed public on the library's varied resources and services.

Many libraries took advantage of radio or television programs and prepared booklists relating to national programs. The Columbus (Ohio) Public Library issued an adult and juvenile listing of titles in the fields of astronomy, space travel, rockets, jets, and missiles as a tie-in with the TV series "Man in Space." At the South Bend (Ind.) Public Library, the TV series "The Unchained Goddess" resulted in an effective booklist about weather in cooperation with the Indiana Bell Telephone Co.

Periodically, the Denver Public Library publishes "New Additions" to its science and engineering department. Several funds are used to buy titles for the department: Colorado State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, a special Ross endowment fund for books on aeronautics and photography, and regular book funds of the library.

Indianapolis (Ind.) Public Library releases a monthly "New Books" from the science and technology division. Recent listings have covered such areas as mathematics, radio, television, and hi-fi.

As a means of encouraging and expediting interlibrary loans, the Oregon State Library publishes a number of selected booklists. "Tall Timber" included books and periodicals on forestry, timber identification, the lumber industry, and the structure of wood.

The East Chicago (Ind.) Public Library publishes regular revisions of two booklists, one on "Iron and Steel" and the other on "Oil" as an aid to the many steel and petroleum industries located in the Calumet area.

It is interesting to see that ALA's "Notable Books of 1960" included several titles in science and technology: Isaac Asimov's "The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science" and Charles P. Snow's "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution."

Among the many periodic newsletters or news bulletins providing suggested reading, current titles in science and technology, as well as news of the field are "Business and Technology Sources," a bulletin of the business and technology department of the Cleveland Public Library; "Service to Business and Industry," published by the Business Reference Library and the Science and Industry

Division of the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library; "Behind the Blue Louvers," a bimonthly periodical of the Cossit Library, the business, technology, reference, and downtown branch of the Memphis Public Library; Dayton and Montgomery County (Ohio) Public Library's "Bits" covering new acquisitions in the fields of business, industry, and technology; and the "Technical Reader" of the Free Public Library of Trenton (N.J.).

Frequently a public library's general newsletter will feature aspects of science and technology as did the "Milwaukee Reader." One 1961 issue headlined the "Age of Space" and another was a salute to "National Engineers Week."

DISPLAYS AND EXHIBITS

A traditional and accepted publicity and informational media, library displays and exhibits have proved to be especially adaptive to the age of science. The Evansville (Ind.) Public Library was one of many libraries across the Nation which cooperated with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in exhibiting the Commission's graphic and informative displays explaining atomic energy and peaceful uses of the atom.

The St. Louis (Mo.) Public Library exhibited a model of the first sputnik, along with photographs and other items originally made for the local science fair. At the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Public Library, a local amateur astronomer displayed his Foucault pendulum in the library lobby to show visitors that the earth is constantly turning on its axis. For the 1961 celebration of Engineers Week, the Rochester (N.Y.) Public Library prepared a special display in its science and technology division. In Baltimore, one of Enoch Pratt's famous window displays featured the book "Scientists Who Changed the World." Authors Lynn and Gray Poole are also producers of several television shows including the "Johns Hopkins Science Review."

Minneapolis' new public library provides continuous displays through its science museum, a regular library department. One of its unique features is a planetarium which can seat 200 under a 40-foot manmade sky. Special exhibits, nature workshops, and film programs are offered regularly.

An interesting experiment was conducted in 1958 by the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County when it took one of the library's regular bookmobiles (1,500 volume capacity) and for several Saturdays turned the unit into a mobile science showcase. The bookmobile's regular collection was removed and replaced with science materials and displays for junior and senior high school students. Planned to stimulate interest in science and motivate students to more active participation in school and personal projects, the bookmobile was parked near the busier branches from 10 to 4 on Saturdays during May. Information letters regarding the exhibit were sent to school principals and, as an added attraction, the film "Man in Space" was shown at the branch on the day the unit was scheduled.

The newly organized Groton (Conn.) Public Library has started a monthly series of scientific demonstrations for younger children, sponsored jointly by the library and the Groton Education Association. Designed to develop an early interest in science and technology among children, the first demonstration and lecture on pets was attended by over 60 children.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Although the above accounts certainly indicate some public library interest in the sciences, the actual impact of the space age as well as the considerable unmet library needs in science and technology are difficult to determine. As long as over 50 million persons in the United States have inadequate public library service and as long as an additional 25 million persons are still without access to any local public library, then the gap, not only in science and technology, but in all subject areas, is of considerable significance to the entire Nation. For, as was stated by F. Cyril James, in his keynote address at the Joint ALA-CLA Conference in Montreal:

"The discoveries of science and technology are so radically changing our environment that any barrier to knowledge may prove to be a barrier to human progress and, in the last tragic finale, a barrier to the continuance of human life upon this planet."

MEETING THE NEW SCHOOL LIBRARY STANDARDS

By Mary Helen Mahar, school and children's library specialist, Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

1

All over the country representatives of educational and lay organizations are taking part in Sate, regional, and national conferences on the new school library standards published by the American Library Association in the spring of 1960. "Standards for School Library Programs” was prepared by a committee appointed by the American Association of School Librarians (a division of the ALA and now also a department of the National Education Association) and composed of leaders in the school library field and representatives of 20 educational and lay organizations.

The new standards are both qualitative and quantitative.

The qualitative standards are based on the cooperative planning of educators concerned not only with providing good school library service, but also with the effects such service will have on our system of education. A basic tenet of the philosophy of the standards is that "the most important part of the library program is the work with students and teachers, those activities and services that make the library an educational force in the school. The objectives of very good schools require that the library program be in full operation, which can be done only when the school meets standards for the personnel, materials, funds, and quarters of the school library."

The quantitative standards are based on research in schools over the country, both in schools having good libraries and in those reporting they could use to advantage the staff and resources recommended in the standards. The committee agreed on the soundness of the quantitative standards as a basis on which to build quality.

The standards apply to elementary, secondary, and combined elementarysecondary schools-to schools of any type of school-grade organization and to both public and nonpublic schools. The revised standards include special provisions for new schools and for schools with less than 200 students. Not only do they state the principles of school library services and make specifications for staff, resources, and quarters, but they include recommendations on the functions of State and local boards and departments of education, school administrators, school library supervisors, curriculum coordinators, and teachers in planning and developing school library programs. At all times they underline the philosophy that all elementary and secondary school educators should share the responsibility for school libraries.

MANY SCHOOL LIBRARIES HAVE FAR TO GO

Many school libraries have far to go before they meet the new national standards set by the American Association of School Librarians. How far is indicated by a comparison of some average conditions in school districts enrolling at least 150 pupils with ALA standards of quantity (current average conditions are from Public School Library Statistics, 1958-59, by Mary Helen Mahar and Doris C. Holladay, recently published by the Library Services Branch of the Office of Education):

NOTE.-On page 25 of this issue, in Statistic of the Month, are other highlights from Public School Library Statistics, 1958-59.

1 Available from the publishing department of the American Library Association, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago 11, Ill., 1960, $2.50.

LIBRARY SERVICES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

More than 10.6 million pupils in school districts with 150 or more pupils are without the services of a centralized library, that is, a library administered as a unit, usually located in one place in the school building, and staffed and stocked to serve all teachers and pupils. The only service they have-if they have any— is from classroom collections, loan collections, bookmobiles, or a combination of these. Approximately 10 million of these pupils are in separate elementary schools, and approximately 490,000 are in combined elementary and secondary schools, very likely schools with small secondary departments.

At least some of the children now without good library services may soon have much better service. As small school districts are abolished and small schools are consolidated, they will be in larger schools with centralized libraries.

These facts, along with many others on bookstock, expenditures, number of libraries by type of school and size of district, are reported in "Public School Library Statistics, 1958-59," by Mary Helen Mahar and Doris C. Holladay (1960, 15 pp., OE-15020), free from the U.S. Office of Education, Washington 25, D.C. EMERY M. FOSTER,

Chief, Research and Surveys Section, Office of Education.

IN BOTH CHART AND TABLE BELOW: CENTRALIZED PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICES IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS ENROLLING 150 PUPILS AND OVER, 1958-59

[Office estimates, based on a sample study of 839 of the 15,526 school districts. Percentages are based on unrounded figures]

IMPLEMENTING SCHOOL LIBRARY STANDARDS-THE SIZE OF THE TASK1

Vigorous efforts for implementation of the new national school library standards, as presented in "Standards for School Library Programs," are urgently needed in many States and local school systems of the United States. The new standards, prepared by the American Association of School Librarians and 20 educational and lay organizations, stress the quality of library service essential for all elementary and secondary schools. The quantitative recommendations are based on research in schools with good library service. Although some schools meet, or exceed the new standards, many thousands of schools over the country have substandard libraries, and thousands of others have no libraries at all. Since instructional programs need the resources and services of good school libraries, this inequality of school library services over the United States is of great concern to all educators.

The report of a recent statistical study of school libraries conducted by the Library Services Branch of the Office of Education, "Public School Library Statistics, 1958-59," contains evidence that there are marked differences between the new national standards and existing conditions in school libraries.

This study collected basic information on public school libraries and school librarians in school districts with enrollments of 150 and over, and its findings can be contrasted with some of the quantitative standards from "Standards for School Library Programs." (The quality of school library programs of service are not measured by the statistical survey, but the data may be considered an index of certain quantitative aspects of school libraries which affect_service.) Another report of a research study, "State Department of Education Responsibilities for School Libraries," also conducted by the Library Services Branch of the Office of Education, showed wide variation between recommendations in "Standards for School Library Programs" for school library supervision, and actual supervisory services available.

The new standards state: "All schools having 200 or more students need well-organized school libraries with functional programs of service directed by qualified personnel." In 1958-59, of a total of 82,222 schools, only about 50 percent had school libraries, and of approximately 34 million public school pupils included in the survey 10.6 million attended schools without libraries. The great majority of these pupils were in elementary schools. Thirty-four percent of approximately 60,000 elementary schools, 97 percent of 13,600 secondary schools, and 88 percent of 9,200 combined elementary-secondary schools had libraries. very basic need, therefore, for the implementation of the school library standards is to establish libraries in approximately 66 percent of our elementary schools, 3 percent of our secondary schools, and 12 percent of our combined elementary-secondary schools.

A

The standards recommend 1 qualified librarian for each 300 students, for the first 900 students, and 1 librarian for each additional 400 students. According to the standards, for the 34 million pupils covered by the survey, public schools in 1958-59 should have had the services of about 112,000 school librarians. The statistical study found that there were only 19,000 public school librarians with 15 semester hours or more of library science, and about 10,000 with less than 15 semester hours. (Fifteen to eighteen semester hours of library science are generally regarded as minimum for the professional preparation of school librarians.) Public school libraries in the United States in 1958-59, therefore, were staffed by only about 17 percent of the professional personnel essential for good school library service. This shortage was particularly acute at the elementary level, as evidenced by the ratios of qualified school librarians to pupils:

Elementary: 1 librarian to 4,261 pupils.

Secondary: 1 librarian to 888 pupils.

Combined elementary-secondary : 1 librarian to 1,125 pupils.
Total: 1 librarian to 1,740 pupils.

These figures show that another basic need in the implementation of the school library standards is the recruitment and professional preparation of many thousands of school librarians. The Office of Education estimates that

1 "School Activities and the Library." American Library Association, 1961. By Mary Helen Mahar, Specialist for School and Children's Libraries, Library Services Branch, Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington 25, D.C.