Two counties in my district which as single units were unable to meet the requirements for a development grant, pooled their efforts and resources to develop a regional library, and thus qualify for a grant. At first the county library boards of Suwannee and Lafayette Counties joined forces to form the Suwannee River Regional Library. A book collection of 3,000 rapidly grew to some 10,000 titles and a bookmobile was ordered and put on the road to serve the rural families of these two counties. This two-county venture proved so successful that five adjacent counties, namely, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Taylor, Columbia, and Madison joined in the regional library plan. All except Taylor County are on the beautiful Suwannee River.

New buildings or additions and renovations of old ones followed in a rapidly growing movement to meet the library needs of the area. From a collection of 3.000 books in 1957, the region now has 23,500 books. For the fiscal year 1959-60, the local libraries supplied $36,094 and the rural development grant amounted to $38,997 for this area service. Other counties in my district have benefited in a similar fashion.

Few Federal programs, in my opinion, have brought so much service in return for the amount invested as the Library Services Act. I am sure the examples: I have cited of benefits to rural communities in my district could be multiplied almost without limit throughout the Nation.

Libraries are said to be the depositories for the accumulated wisdom of the ages; certainly they are among the greatest boons to humanity. If men are to discriminate between truth and error, if men are to remain free, if men are to prepare themselves to live and serve in a world whose dimensions are not yet measured, they must read. This is as true of those who live in the rural areas of our Nation as those who dwell in great cities. Accordingly, I wish to strongly urge an extension of this act so that there may be no interruption of the work so auspiciously begun.

STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE P. MILLER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

This week, April 3-9, marks the third annual observance of National Library Week and provides an opportunity for all of us to renew our interest in, and support for, the libraries of America. These libraries contribute much to the pleasure and intellectual growth of us all. Unfortunately, many citizens have no access to a library. The Library Services Act of 1956 has helped to push library frontiers forward, to strengthen professional leadership in 49 States and 3 territories participating in programs and has done much to bring good books and other materials of learning to millions of Americans previously lacking them.

The fact that State funds appropriated for the development of rural public library service have increased 54 percent since 1954 and local funds for rural library services have increased 45 percent, is clear evidence that the States and municipalities have responded to the stimulation of the Federal grants.

In spite of the improvements that have been made, however, it remains true that the general level of library support is still extremely low throughout the country and there are still 22 millions of men, women and children in rural areas who have no access to public library service and many additional millions without adequate library service.

In my own State of California by means of the Library Services Act, improved library service has been extended to 38 counties. Demonstration bookmobiles filled with the best of children's and adult books have been operating; better reference service has been provided in rural areas, consultant service has been made available to assist local librarians with professional guidance and technical assistance, three scholarships for beginning librarians have been established. In the area just north of my district a cooperative system consisting of approximately 20 libraries in 4 North Bay counties is being established. Through this cooperation, improved central cataloging and processing will be accomplished more efficiently and effectively; reference services will be improved and extended; the resources of all libraries will be available to all in the system; films will be an additional resource; reference service will be speeded up through a teletype system linking all libraries in the system with each other and with the State library; the service to children will be improved and extended and a children's librarian will be provided; the libraries will work together in their

buying of books and will duplicate collections only when necessary for the local demand.

Much is being accomplished but a recent survey by the California Public Library Commission reports that 86,578 people in California are totally unserved by public libraries and it is estimated that over 8 million are inadequately served.

In order that the impetus gained to date not be lost and these demonstrations now underway be given a fair chance, I am today introducing a bill to extend the Library Services Act for another 5 years after 1961. I hope that this important educational legislation can be promptly enacted.

STATEMENT OF HON. ABRAHAM J. MULTER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity to appear before your committee in support of my bill, H.R. 11175, proposing a 5-year extension of the Library Services Act.

During the week of April 3 through 9, many communities throughout America will be celebrating National Library Week. We shall be hearing and seeing such slogans as:

"Read Books That Have Shaped the World."

and

"Open Wonderful New Worlds: Wake Up and Read."

Posters, programs, and displays will spotlight the many satisfactions of reading. One of the aims of National Library Week is "to remind the American people that reading can help them to explore and to satisfy their need for a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives."

During National Library Week, when we are considering the multiple rewards of knowledge and pleasure gained from reading, and when we are again directing our hopes and energies to the goal of "a better-read, betterinformed America," we must be forcibly reminded that millions of our citizens are still totally without library facilities, while millions of other Americans are in the position of having to make do with very little.

Estimates suggest that something like 46 million Americans are limited to inadequate library facilities; 25 million have none at all. If these Amercans who have not yet experienced the benefits of the Library Services Act are overlooked the clarion calls of National Library Week will to them, indeed, have a hollow ring.

It seems, therefore, particularly appropriate at this time to call attention to, and ask support for, pending legislation to extend the Library Services Act. Since the 84th Congress enacted the Library Services Act in 1956, over 800 rural communities, representing a population of over 11 million, have obtained new or somewhat more adequate library services. The work accomplished clearly indicates that the Federal allotments have stirred State and county governments to make efforts that they had not been able to manage alone. Congress has shown its growing understanding of the value of programs resulting from the Library Services Act by steadily increasing appropriations.

My bill, H.R. 11175, which I introduced in the House of Representatives on March 15, 1960, would amend the Library Services Act in order to extend for 5 years the authorization for Federal appropriations. It also proposes that the Federal share for any State shall be 100 percent minus the State share. The State share shall bear the same ratio to 50 percent as the per capita income of such State bears to the national per capita income. In no case shall the Federal share be more than 66 percent or less than 33 percent. For Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, the Federal share shall be 66 percent.

Current proposals for legislation to extend the act may be supported on several grounds. Two reasons particularly convince me of the merits of extending the Library Services Act:

First, the goals originally envisioned when this legislation was passed remain unaccomplished to a substantial extent due to the fact that earlier appropriations of Federal funds lagged considerably below the amount authorized by the act. Second, since the proof of the pudding is in the eating, accomplishments reported by the States have certainly given many of us a clearer appreciation of how worthwhile the supporting expenditures are in this fruitful partnership between Federal, State, and local resources.

In New York State, for example, Federal allotments coupled with new Stateaid are stimulating the greatest period of change and growth in rural public library development that my State has ever seen. The program has led to a notable expansion of field consultant services which has been very helpful in accelerating the development of cooperative library systems.

Between July 1958 and June 1959, 5 new cooperative library systems serving 13 counties were established. A bookmobile purchased with Library Services Act funds has been a great success. Demonstrated on the road and exhibited at county fairs, it has made many rural New Yorkers aware of its exciting possibilities.

Presently, arrangements are being made to purchase two additional bookmobiles to be used in similar demonstration projects during the 1960 fiscal year. Another interesting project has resulted in faster communication between four library systems and the New York State Library. Teletypewriter service is now being used to speed up the transmittal of requests for interlibrary loans, thereby cutting down on the time a borrower must wait for a specially requested book.

Other developments include a program that awards scholarships to college graduates interested in rural librarianship and also provides modest grants that help pay the expenses of librarians who visit and study another New York State rural system as an aid in planning improved library service in their

own areas.

In addition, over 50 regional workshops have been held, with over half of them concentrated on reference and children's library work.

Problems of rural library size and distribution and problems of securing adequately trained librarians are the tough nuts that every State is trying to crack. In 1956, the American Library Association stated in its pamphlet called "Public Library Service; A Guide to Evaluation, With Minimum Standards": "Achieving standard library facilities presents special difficulties in small cities, scattered suburbs, towns, villages, and rural areas. Even with a substantial financial effort, the small locality is often not able to buy the books needed and to employ the requisite personnel. For these reasons, the many smaller libraries in the country have usually not approached the range and standard specified in national standards."

Recent studies have indicated that for real efficiency and economy a library should serve a population grouping which consists of at least 100,000 persons. To manage this will require the kind of imagination and ingenuity that lends itself to creative and skillfully worked out innovations.

I am told that cooperative library systems which cut across county and township lines have great possibilities in many areas. In order to reap the gains of pooling rural library resources and personnel, the smaller units are looking for ways of organizing themselves together in constructive patterns that best serve their communities.

Bookmobiles; improved communications such as that furnished by teletypewriter more rural librarians who are trained to meet the special challenges of their work-these are some of the steps that will carry us toward the goal of making it possible for any American, no matter where he lives in our country, to be, if he so desires, part of a better read, better informed America.

Enthusiasm for the results of the Library Services Act is dramatically tangible in the reports of State library extension agencies, in the overwhelming response of librarians, and in the many letters which have requested an extension of the act.

The satisfaction of rural librarians and communities in better serving their public is unquestioned. A great start has been made. However, every person interested in better library facilities has a distinct consciousness of what must still be accomplished if we are to be credited with making more than a small dent in the problem. We must now decide upon a less than adequate program, or one that fulfills its finer possibilities. I very much hope that the answer will be in the affirmative.

Thank you.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE LIBRARY BOARD,
Columbia, S.C., April 5, 1960.

Hon. L. MENDEL RIVERS,

Member of Congress,

House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. RIVERS: South Carolina librarians are greatly interested in bill H.R. 9812 and other related bills to extend the Library Services Act for 5 years after 1961. I thought you should know how this would affect the South Carolina public library program.

Under the present Library Services Act which terminates in 1961, we have been able to establish a very effective reference and interlibrary loan service through which the rare, expensive, and the unusual book is made immediately available to all libraries in the State for the use of their borrowers. This is a most valuable service, since it supplements local library collections and opens up the resources of a large library to the people of the entire State. In addition to this general statewide service, we have established a regional library demonstration in the Aiken-Barnwell-Edgefield area and a county demonstration in Anderson. We hope to establish similar demonstrations in Allendale, Hampton, Jasper, Beaufort, Colleton, Greenville, and Chesterfield Counties. Another project being conducted under the Library Services Act is the intern program designed to help young people of the State get started in a library career. We have also conducted a program to improve reference resources of public libraries at the local level and are now beginning a project called the Carolina materials project through which we will be able to supply 10 public libraries in the State with the hundred essential books in South Carolina history. All of this progress has been made possible through the Library Services Act. Its extension for another 5 years would mean even greater progress in developing good library service in the State. We hope you will lend your interest and support to the extension of the Library Services Act through the passage of H.R. 9812 or one of the related bills.

I hope sometime when you are in South Carolina that you will let us show you some of the developments made possible through participation in the Library Services Act program. We are enthusiastic over what has been accom

plished and would like to see it continued.

Sincerely yours,

ESTELLENE P. WALKER, Director.

APRIL 5, 1960.

Hon. CARL ELLIOTT,

Chairman, Subcommittee on Special Education,
Committee on Education and Labor,

House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you for the opportunity to present a statement in support of my bill, H.R. 10647, to extend the Library Services Act for a period of 5 years. Similar bills have been introduced by other Members of Congress.

More than any Nation in the history of the world, the people of the United States have believed in the efficacy of education. We have a long and remarkable tradition of free public education for all our citizens, in the belief that this is in the best interest of the individual and of his country. We have traditionally honored the man with a high level of formal education, and we have as much or more honored the so-called self-made man, the man who is for some reason unable to obtain a high level of formal education, but has taken the time, effort, and trouble to educate himself.

These two types of "educated men" reach their levels of knowledge by quite different routes, but there is one necessary tool which they both must sharebooks. The man who is formally educated derives the greater portion of his knowledge from books, and the self-educated man derives nearly all of his learning from books.

If we believe, then, that it is desirable both for the individual and for our society as a whole that each person reach his highest possible level of educa

tion, then we must in turn commit ourselves to the need to make a ready supply of books available to all.

In 1956, we in Congress were told that some 27 million Americans had no access at all to any public library, and that 90 percent of these persons resided in rural areas. In addition, we learned that some 50 million others were receiving only inadequate library services. This meant that roughly 77 million persons, or nearly 43 percent of our entire population, were being deprived of this full opportunity for formal or self-education.

Most of these persons lived in rural areas, which were too small or too far flung to make a library economically feasible.

Recognizing this inequity and lack of opportunity which we were permitting to exist, the Congress enacted almost without opposition the Library Services Act of 1956. This act authorized $7,500,000 of Federal funds per year for 5 years to be spent developing rural library services. The funds were to be allocated to the States on the basis of their rural population and matched by State and local funds on the basis of per capita income. The money could be spent for salaries, books, and other library materials, library equipment, and other operating expenses, but not for the purchase of land or the erection of buildings.

The philosophy behind this law was that it would stimulate State and local action, and would help the States and local areas with large initial investments in books, bookmobiles, personnel hiring and training, etc. Then after 5 years the Federal Government could withdraw and let the States and local areas carry the burden alone.

This might well have been desirable had the full program been in operation for the full 5 years. But it has not been. We initially authorized the expenditure of $37,500,000 in Federal funds; we have actually appropriated nowhere nearly as much. Counting the $7,500,000 which the House passed recently for fiscal year 1961, the last year of the bill, we have appropriated only $26,550,000 or 70 percent of the authorization. Furthermore, much time was lost in the beginning due to the planning and programing which was necessary. I strongly urge that we extend this bill for another 5 years so that we may attempt to complete the job that we felt was so important 4 years ago.

But, it is always logical before considering the extension of a program to examine the success of the program since its enactment to see if it warrants extension.

The Office of Education estimates that approximately 30 million people in rural areas are currently receiving new or improved public library service as a direct result of this act. We have made it possible for these people to be visited by bookmobiles, to have more extensive collections of books, magazines, and other library materials accessible to them, to set up reference and loan systems between the local libraries and larger municipal and State libraries, and to hire and train additional staff members.

It is estimated that 200 new bookmobiles are in operation, 5 mililon books and other educational materials are in circulation, and 90 field consultants have been added to State agency staffs, the latter being an increase of 80 percent over the total field staff in 1956.

In my own State of New York this act has enabled us to purchase and set up a demonstration bookmobile, to add seven field advisory positions, to set up a communications network by phone and teletype among local and regional libraries and the State library. It has helped us to establish six film circuits and a central collection of recordings, and, perhaps most importantly, it has assisted us in setting up scholarship programs and inservice workshops to train much-needed personnel. The rural citizens of New York have indeed benefited greatly from the funds received under this act.

One of our initial aims in the enactment of this legislation was to stimulate State and local efforts. The U.S. Office of Education estimated recently that State funds appropriated for the improvement or extension of rural library services have increased 54 percent since 1956, and local funds have increased 45 percent.

Fifty-two States and territories are now participating in the program.

But despite all this action and progress, the Office of Education estimates that at the termination of the program in 1961, only roughly half of the job will be done. Only 40 million of the almost 80 million persons who needed new or im