COOPERATIVE FUNCTIONS OR SERVICES

Another pervasive element throughout LSA programs has been the philosophy of cooperation as an essential ingredient for improving and extending existing library services. All of the demonstrations listed above as well as the other patterns of system development contained in the reports have as a common element the cooperative approach to better service. Most of the following examples of cooperative activity are, in effect, components of library system organization, but their relative importance in the success of the LSA program deserves separate consideration.

One of the major activities of a library that lends itself most readily to cooperative accomplishment is the acquisition of materials and their preparation for use. Usually termed "centralized processing," this function may include such operations as book ordering, cataloging, classification, catalog card duplication, preparation of book cards and pockets, lettering the spine, applying a plastic jacket, etc. It is obviously repetitious for every independent library to do all of these routine operations separately even if each had trained staff and unlimited time. By centralizing these tasks, many LSA projects have been able to obtain a volume of work which makes economically feasible the use of massproduction machine methods.

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In close connection with some of the centralized processing projects, many States have included workshops for the participating libraries on such subjects as book selection, adult services, and reference and information services. southwestern Wisconsin processing center, now operating with partial local support, is among the centers which provide these and related activities. In New Hampshire, 32 independent libraries are now depositing their book funds into a single account which is administered by the State treasurer. Each library has absolute control over the selection of specific titles and the increased purchasing power through higher discounts helps stretch the book budgets of all the participating libraries. Cooperation among the members of this group is growing to include book selection meetings, the sharing of less frequently needed titles, and reciprocal borrowers' privileges. In Minnesota, the Anoka County Library does the technical processing for the nearby Dakota-Scott Regional Library and, in Ohio, any library in the State may use the custom cataloging services of the center in Columbus which is operated by the State library. The Idaho and North Carolina State libraries are also among those which perform centralized processing for libraries in the State.

The Northwest Montana Federation of Libraries, one of three cooperative systems now operating in the State, offers centralized processing and, in Nebraska, the south central regional library with headquarters in Holdrege performs a book repair service for the libraries in that area.

Although it may be said that the operation of centralized processing projects is not yet fully developed, many have achieved a high level of operating efficiency with a close accounting of unit costs. A result equal in importance to the service itself is the practical experience in cooperation which centers have provided. This experience has led to additional cooperative activities on a broader scale with a substantial improvement in the quantity and quality of library services available to library users.

There is evidence in the reports of increasing importance being attached to centralizing reference, research, and information services. The Denver tricounty reference project uses the idea of reimbursing a strong existing library for the extension of its services. The Denver tricounty reference project uses the idea of reimbursing a strong existing library for the extension of its services. The Denver Public Library, under contract with the State library, serves as the major reference resource for 10 participating libraries. The service includes providing answers to specific inquiries as well as the interlibrary loan of materials to meet subject requests. The San Joaquin Valley Information Service, located in the Fresno County Free Library, performs a similar function for 10 libraries in a 6-county area and also conducts inservice training programs for the personnel of the participating libraries.

In many States where reference services are part of an LSA project, teletype communication is being used more extensively than ever before. Eleven rural library systems in New York State are linked to each other and to the State library, and this method of transmitting requests and receiving information is also in use by the regional libraries in Illinois, the North Bay Cooperative in California, the Nevada State Library, and the Missouri Bibliographic Center.

Experience in New York and Missouri indicates that the publishing of printed catalogs of materials available on interlibrary loan is an important factor in securing maximum use of teletype equipment. New York reports an average unit cost of 30 cents per interloan item. Illinois reports that their equipment is also used to good advantage in transmitting administrative information to the regional libraries.

The cooperative use audio-visual materials continues to be an effective LSA activity in many State plans. The central pool of phonograph recordings at the Iowa Traveling Library is used intensively by libraries throughout the State. Some of the film circuit operations are statewide, as in the case of Illinois and Montana, and others are operated as parts of demonstration programs or regional centers as in Minnesota and New York. The Ohio library service centers make nonmusical recordings available as part of their interlibrary loan collection. Three New England States-Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont-have cooperated to form a tristate film service. Each State agency deposits films into a central pool collection administered by the University of New Hampshire. The rural libraries in each contributing State may then borrrow films without rental charges up to the value of the films which have been deposited.

A promising, but not yet fully developed, cooperative activity is the use of a statewide library card. Ohio, Michigan, and California have begun to study the possibilities of this service and a pilot project to test the feasibility and financing of such a service is being planned in Michigan. As conceived by one State, the registration for such a card would be administered by the State library and provision would be made for reimbursement to those libraries honoring the card. At least in the initial stages of implementing the plan, the cards would be issued to a limited number of serious library users having special needs. Two other cooperative ventures which some States have considered exploring are intersystem cooperative relationships and interstate compacts for library services. In general, the reports indicate that both State and local libraries are becoming more comfortable in a climate of cooperation and that many of the tentative early efforts have provided encouraging experience on which to build more complex and more comprehensive arrangements.

SURVEYS, STUDIES, RESEARCH PROJECTS

A significant trend beginning to emerge during the last 2 years of the report period can be noted by the increased emphasis being placed on research into the problems of rural library development. The establishment of the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois under a contract with the Illinois State Library is perhaps the most comprehensive involvement of a State agency in research activities up to the present time. The Illinois State Library has invited other Midwestern States to participate in the center and this possibility is now under consideration. Research topics studies by the center include such aspects of library development as: local public library financing; voter reaction to library referendums; and newspaper coverage of public libraries.

In 1960, Dr. Mary Lee Bundy, former director of the Library Research Center, published a detailed analysis of the attitudes and opinions of Illinois farm families toward libraries and their development. As part of a comprehensive statewide study in Missouri, the same author has conducted research and evaluation of that State's inservice training activities and the Missouri centralized processing operations. During 1961, Missouri was making plans for a study in depth of the values attached to library publicity using the techniques of motivational research. This investigation will be carried out by the University of Missouri under contract with the Missouri State Library.

At about the same time, Minnesota was planning a careful study of the adult services potential of a rural library system. Using both a questionnaire and an interview technique, the study will be conducted by the University of Minnesota and financed by the State agency with LSA funds.

In 1961, Wisconsin issued a survey entitled, "Facing the Sixties: The Public Library in Wisconsin" which analyzes the quantity and quality of existing services in that State. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Free Library Commission, the survey was conducted by the Bureau of Government of the University of Wisconsin. A similar agency, the Department of Government of the University of New Hampshire, began a survey of library conditions throughout the State in 1960 and published a report in 1961. The New Hampshire survey, financed as

part of the LSA plan, includes a number of specific recommendations relating to library development in the State including the building of federations of libraries and various types of interlibrary cooperative activities.

The "Governor's Study of Public and School Libraries in the State of Hawaii," by Robert D. Leigh, was published in 1960. The following year a study of the processing operations of the Library of Hawaii was undertaken by Maurice Tauber. Other examples of studies and surveys financed wholly or partially with LSA funds include: Statewide surveys in Tennessee, Nevada, Kentucky, and Nebraska; management surveys of State library operations in Oregon and Missouri; and surveys of specific library service areas conducted by State library agencies in such States as Michigan, Connecticut, Mississippi, and Missouri. The increased participation by State library agencies in survey and research activity may be partly attributed to the availability of LSA funds for strengthening their resources and facilities.

The addition of consultants and fieldworkers has made it possible for the States to work more intensively with local libraries and to define with greater clarity additional research needed as a basis for informed decisionmaking. An equally important factor is that LSA funds have made possible, in some cases for the first time, expenditures for both basic and applied library research.

The research projects noted here, particularly those conducted by Illinois and Missouri, are often of particular help in evaluating specific efforts to develop and extend library services. Continued efforts to analyze prevailing attitudes toward library projects will make it possible for the States to design more effective techniques for the extension and improvement of library services.

By the end of the report period the amount of competent library research produced was still small in relation to the needs. Differences in attitudes between one section of the country and another, however, already began to emerge. One Illinois report indicated several negative reactions by farmers to the use of bookmobiles in rural areas. In New York a more limited survey of 200 bookmobile users in a demonstration area indicated that the majority did not use any public library prior to the introduction of the bookmobile. An additional finding was that more than half of the adult users also select juvenile books for their children while visiting the unit. Research results such as these may be applied by the States within the context of their knowledge and experience in order to base future activities on a more realistic understanding of the situation and thereby increase the prospects for success.

RECRUITMENT, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND TRAINING

At the close of this report period, 16 States had scholarship programs as part of their State plans: Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Other States, including Alabama, North Dakota, and Oregon were actively planning similar programs for future years. In California the scholarship plan includes funds for a graduate level fellowship for research by a doctoral candidate.

The Pennsylvania library law authorizes the State library to employ up to 25 library trainees each year with the understanding that persons selected will attend an approved library school and earn a master's degree in library service. Recipients are placed on the State payroll and they agree to work in the State library during that part of the first year which is not spent in actual class attendance. During the second and third years they agree either to continue employment in the State library or to accept a position in a Pennsylvania public library giving service to rural areas.

The States offering scholarships for graduate library training report varying degrees of success in recruiting sufficient numbers of qualified applicants. South Carolina provides an excellent example of successful recruitment in the junior and senior intern program. During 1961, 11 junior interns were employed in 10 of the State's library systems, and 4 professionally trained librarians who were formerly senior interns began employment in county library systems.

Inservice training activities, in one form or another, have been part of the State plan activities in each State. Those which have been formalized to meet nonprofessional certification requirements have frequently been developed in collaboration with colleges or universiites. Michigan offers four $500 scholarships annually for attendance at a two-summer library aid program given at

the Ferris Institute. Pennsylvania has a comprehensive sequence of inservice training courses called the public library administrators round table. Part of this project consists of eight 2-hour sessions which are conducted by a faculty member of the Drexel Institute of Technology. Wisconsin and Minnesota have similar arrangements for providing free tuition plus a small amount for books to persons attending courses in library science administered by the extension divisions of the State universities.

In addition to providing 10 graduate scholarship grants in 1961, New York State reported that 446 persons successfully completed courses in the community librarians training program and that 100 persons attended the 1961 workshop for board members and staff members of library systems. The community librarians training program consists of four 22-hour class sessions which are taught in each of 10 centers throughout the State. New Jersey offered a series of five 2-hour training classes which were sponsored cooperatively by the State library, Rutgers University, the New Jersey Library Association, and the Library Trustees Association.

Reports of informal conferences, workshops, and institutes on both a statewide and regional basis may be found in nearly every State. Governor's conferences for librarians and/or trustees and 1- or 2-day workshops have both been widely used by the States to study and discuss questions relating to library development. West Virginia has held two statewide workshops for both librarians and trustees. Alabama held its second workshop for community librarians in 1961 with the University of Alabama as a cosponsor. Alaska reports successful regional inservice training programs and among the other States with similar activities are Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nevada, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wyoming.

These efforts by the States to improve library services at the local level through systematic educational programs for librarians and trustees will probably have a cumulative effect on the ability and job performances of those who participate. Many States indicate that the values of these activities do not lie solely in the content of a specific workshop. Also, of significant benefit is the coming together from all parts of a State or region people concerned with public library service in order to share mutual problems and experiences, to test new ideas, to become familiar with other libraries and their operation, and to have the opportunity of exploring cooperative methods of achieving better service. As more and more of these participants gain sharper insights into the potential role of the modern public library, more rapid progress toward attaining library services of high quality may be expected.

Conference and workshop activity has also taken place under the Library Services Act at the multistate and national levels. Early in the 1957 fiscal year, the Library Services Branch held meetings in Washington, D.C.; Nashville, Tenn.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Kansas City, Mo.; to develop regulations under which the act would be administered. Two representatives from each State and territory were invited to participate in discussions with representatives from the Office of Education and the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. At periodic intervals since these sessions, conferences and consultations have been scheduled by the branch with members of State library agencies, usually in conjunction with the annual conferences or the midwinter meetings of the American Library Association.

Several State library agencies have also met on a regional basis to share experiences in implementing State plans and to evaluate progress under the act. Some or all of the midwestern States of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin have met annually, each time with a different State as host, since November 1957. The executive secretary of the American Association of State Libraries and a representative from the Library Services Branch have also attended these meetings.

In April 1957, the State library agencies of New York State and the six New England States as well as the State Library Associations set representatives to the eighth annual extension librarians meeting in Concord, N.H. The program for this meeting was devoted to plans and procedures for participating in LSA. The Western States Library Extension Conference held its first annual meeting to discuss State plans and programs under the Library Services Act in 1959. Invitations to attend each meeting have gone to the State library agencies in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

These and related group activities on the part of State extension personnel have done much to disseminate widely and rapidly the experiences of the various States under the program. The opportunity provided by these meetings for continuous evaluation of the relative success of the program has also been used to good advantage by several States.

STATE STANDARDS AND STATE AID

The Library Services Act provides funds for the further extension of public library services to rural areas which have "inadequate" services as well as to those rural areas which are entirely without service. The determination of specific rural areas having service defined as "inadequate" was made by the States and the criteria for such determination were included as part of the State plan. For the most part, State or National library standards, or a special combination of the two, were used for this purpose. Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are among the States which refer to national standards as criteria while Alabama, Arizona, Missouri, North Dakota, and Texas use special standards adopted for use in each State. By the end of the report period several other States, among them Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, had begun plans for the development of State standards.

In some cases State standards are not comprehensive and consist of little more than modest requirements for eligibility to receive State grants-in-aid. Almost without exception, States making grants to local libraries have established some minimum criteria for eligibility, usually in terms of hours open, per capita local support, personnel certification, or similar quantitative measures-of minimum service. By continuing to meet or exceed such requirements, the local library then is qualified to receive State funds. It can be said that State standards and State grants-in-aid go hand in hand. Without a financial incentive, State standards would not be widely implemented; without criteria for eligibility, State aid would not be allocated with maximum effectiveness.

The different uses to which State grants-in-aid may be applied do not seem to have been fully exploited in most States having grant programs. The major purposes of such financial assistance to local libraries seem to be supplementing the amounts available from locally collected tax revenues and helping to equalize the local tax burden among communities with differing abilities to support library programs of even minimum adequacy. Relatively little use of State grant funds has been made for such purposes as stimulating additional services; encouraging experimentation or pilot projects relating to new types of library service; promoting the establishment of larger and more effective library service areas; and motivating local effort to move systematically toward service of higher quality.

In June 1961, cash-grant programs were in existence in 27 States: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. The grant programs now in effect in Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oregon were enacted during this report period. Authorizing legislation for the Florida program was passed by the State legislature late in 1961, but no appropriation was made during that fiscal year. Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee make State grants to local libraries in forms other than cash.

In addition to authorizing appropriations for payments to localities, Massachusetts includes funds for the organization of regional public library systems. The Pennsylvania library code authorizes the State library to promulgate regulations for the administration of grant funds, including the establishment of standards.

PUBLIC INFORMATION PROGRAMS

A vital element in the various LSA projects has been the programs aimed at increasing the awareness by the public of the value of good public library services and how the individual can use these resources for his personal benefit. A review of the successful demonstrations reported by the States shows that in every case a systematic plan for keeping the public fully informed was an integral part of the project.

A unique example of a cooperative public information project was the collaboration of the six New England States in the production of a film entitled, "The Day the Books Went Blank" which describes the operation of a library system. Alaska reports a successful yearlong series of 15-minute radio programs devoted to the values of books and reading and the use of library services.