You are one who is known to appreciate that medical progress is dependent on quality medical library service and that it is often impossible for a medical school to mobilize the funds that are necessary to create a first-class library. Here at Harvard we were fortunate in being able to find private donors for our new library building. But this is far from typical. At most medical schools the library receives less than priority attention because private funds are just not available. The Medical Libraries Assistance Act promises a nationwide alleviation of this situation. Its several provisions would greatly strengthen the medical libraries of the country. This, in turn, would extend critically needed library service to the nonurban areas of the Nation so that-among other things-the practicing physician in such areas would have a chance of keeping up with current medical advances and of bringing newly discovered medical knowledge to bear on his ability to heal the sick. I should like to hope that your committee will take action on the Medical Libraries Assistance Act just as soon as possible and that it will report it favorably. If this can be done now, is there not an excellent chance that the House will act promptly and favorably? Since this legislation, is favored by so many, it would be a pity if its enactment were put off another year. Please count on me to lend a hand with this effort if this seems to you to be appropriate. Very truly yours, ROBERT H. EBERT, M.D., Dean. THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION, INC., Hon. OREN HARRIS, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I am pleased to inform you of the support of the Amer ican Public Health Association of the principles and objectives of H.R. 3142, the bill which you have introduced relating to medical libraries. The statement of declaration of policy in H.R. 3142 wherein the needs of medical libraries are enumerated is fully subscribed to by the APHA. The proposed course of remedial actions appears to us to be both logical and necessary. We are delighted to note that under the definitions the term "sciences related to health" includes public health and fundamental and applied sciences related thereto. We believe, you will agree, that public health schools and departments should be clearly eligible to participate under all applicable sections of the bill. The language of section 394 is explicit in this respect, but we believe it would be very helpful to clarify the language of the remaining portions of the bill in this respect. May I reiterate our support of H.R. 3142 and urge passage after the minor amendments referred to above. Sincerely yours, BERWYN F. MATTISON, M.D., Executive Director. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES OF PHARMACY, Hon. OREN HARRIS, Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, DEAR MR. HARRIS: The executive committee of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy is pleased to have this opportunity to submit for the record this statement in support of H.R. 3142, the Medical Library Assistance Act. While this action is taken in the name of the executive committee, I am confident that the administrators of our 73 member colleges would give full endorsement to the legislation if time permitted a solicitation of their views. It is anticipated that schools of pharmacy will be eligible for benefits under H.R. 3142 just as they are under the health research facilities construction program inasmuch as the term "sciences related to health" is defined identically in each instance. However, it is respectfully requested that the definition as given in section 391 (1) be amended to specifically so state. The several programs embodied in H.R. 3142 provide a broad-based approach to an often neglected but an extremely important and essential part of the total educational program of the health sciences. For the past several years, Federal legislation has provided much needed support for the development of new knowledge through support programs for facilities and research. The programs provided for through H.R. 3142 will give impetus to the distribution of this knowledge to the researchers, to the educators, and to the practitioners of the health professions. The ultimate objective of all health research is the improvement of the health of the public, and unless the results of the research are translated into practical procedure for treatment and distributed to the practitioners the objective cannot be achieved. Federal assistance in the form of health research facility grants and research grants from the National Institutes of Health has served as a pronounced stimulus to the graduate programs of schools of pharmacy. In fiscal 1964 grants totaling $820,000 were awarded to 5 schools of pharmacy, and a recent survey, with 59 of our schools reporting, showed that during the decade ending June 1974, funds in excess of $20 million, based on the total cost of construction, will be required for new research facilities. During fiscal 1964, Public Health Service-supported research projects in schools of pharmacy totaled 182 with a dollar value of $2,834,000. Since 1961 the annual growth rate of the amount of support has been 44 percent; during the past 10 years, the dollar value has increased a hundredfold. Inasmuch as about 56 percent of all funds expended for research in fiscal 1964 came from the National Institutes of Health, the growth rate figure exemplifies the growth of the research programs in schools of pharmacy. In addition to the greatly increased amount of information coming from our education institutions, all of us are well aware of the vast amount of information on new drugs coming from the research laboratories of the pharmaceutical houses, all of which is essential to the research programs and to the educational programs of our schools of pharmacy. It is quite safe to state that the availability of funds for the expansion of facilities and of resources in the libraries of our schools has not kept pace with the availability of new knowledge essential for the total educational program for pharmacy students. It can also be said that to ask students to provide for this essential program through increases in student fees would place an impossible burden upon such students, both now and in the future. It should be pointed out that pharmaceutical education is concerned with the physical sciences and with the biological sciences, from both the basic and applied viewpoints, and thus the library resources which must be available to our undergraduate and graduate programs are quite extensive. The inadequacy of many of our libraries was emphasized in a recent survey in which information was requested on the availability, on a percentage basis, of 1,000 books and reference works relating to the professional curriculum. When the pharmacy library and university library were the basis for the percentage estimation, 71 schools reported a range of 3 to 100 percent, the average was 60 percent of the listed books and reference works, and the median was 62 percent. In a second test designed to determine the effectiveness of the libraries readily available to schools of pharmacy, librarians were asked to choose one or two review articles from the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and to determine from the bibliographies whether or not the articles could have been written by the use of the combined holdings of the pharmacy library, the university library, and nearby libraries. Twenty-three said they could not have prepared the articles from the pharmacy and the university libraries. However, 12 of the 23 said that nearby libraries would have provided the holdings essential to the preparation of the articles. Pharmacy, like the other health professions, is becoming increasingly aware of the need for continuing education programs for its practitioners; a few persons have advocated attendance at such programs as requisite to renewal of the professional license. As these continuing education programs take on increased significance, the ready availability of current information to all community practitioners will be essential. Thus, methods of distribution of information and of the communication of information will need increased attention. In short, the resources of its library are the heart of any institution of higher learning. While the problem of maintaining adequate facilities is critical in all institutions, it is particularly significant in areas related to health because of the tremendous volume of research achievement and the primary importance which must be attached to the widest dissemination of knowledge at the earliest moment possible. Extensive rehabilitation of facilities and increased capability for handling acquisitions can make this possible. The discussion in this statement of individual sections of the legislation is deemed unnecessary inasmuch as they were covered by several of the witnesses during the hearings. However, it is our opinion that each of the proposed programs supplements the other and that all are essential in strengthening this important area of the health sciences programs. Respectfully submitted. JOSEPH B. SPROWLS, Chairman, Executive Committee. Hon. OREN HARRIS, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, COLLEGE OF PHARMACY, Minneapolis, Minn., September 15, 1965. Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. HARRIS: I am writing in respect to H.R. 3142, the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965. I respectfully request that this letter be included in the record of the hearing. The University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and, I am sure, other colleges of pharmacy in this country urgently need assistance of the type provided by H.R. 3142, especially as regards new library facilities; renovation and expansion of existing facilities; subsidy of postbaccalaureate degree programs in library science, data processing, and communication; special fellowships to aid development of new information tools; and funds for purchase of books, journals, films and equipment to expedite documentation and communication. I assure you of the gratitude of pharmaceutical educators for the implication of colleges of pharmacy in the phrase, "sciences related to health." On their behalf I appeal, however, for the explicit identification of colleges of pharmacy as institutions eligible for assistance under the terms of H.R. 3142. The knowledge of drugs with which pharmacists, in the interest of medical care and public health, must be familiar and to which pharmacists must have ready access is very large and very dynamic. The frequent changes are most significant as regards the efficacy and safety of drugs. The information bank is doubling at an alarming rate and the rate is accelerating. Since 1960, pharmacy students have been required to spend 5 years (instead of 4) in mastering the pharmacal sciences and, even more importantly, in learning how to use the vast store of recorded information effectively in the interest of medical care and public health and for research on drugs. During the period, 1958-64, 18.8 percent of the students receiving the B. S. degree in pharmacy at this college have undertaken postbaccalaureate degree programs most of which involve research. The role of colleges of pharmacy as clearinghouses for drug information and the role of community and hospital pharmacists in health communications should be recognized and should be further enhanced by the assistance provided in H.R. 3142. I have enclosed a recent article on "The Pharmacist's Responsibility in Drug Information Services." Certain of the arguments for naming pharmacy specifically in H.R. 3142 are elaborated in that article. The January 1963, report of the President's Science Advisory Committee, "Science, Government, and Information", emphasizes the need for "central depositories" and "specialized information centers". Colleges of pharmacy should be enabled to serve as central depositories and as specialized centers in handling information on drugs. Some of our students should be encouraged to take the additional training required for the role of information specialists in documentation, retrieval, and communication of drug information. Naming pharmacy in H.R. 3142 would constitute a strong positive thrust in these directions. Colleges of pharmacy urgently need the assistance provided in H.R. 3142 to fulfill responsibilities that fully justify such assistance. Again, I thank you for your efforts in behalf of the Medical Library Assistance Act and for your intention as regards pharmacy. I am most sincere in my hope that you will recognize the merit of the points I have made and that you will included pharmacy specifically under the provisions of H.R. 3142. Very sincerely yours, GEO. P. HAGER, Dean. Hon. OREN HARRIS, AMERICAN NURSES' ASSOCIATION, INC., Chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, DEAR MR. HARRIS: The American Nurses' Association wishes to record its support of H.R. 3142, the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965. We believe the provisions in this bill will do much to meet the current and ever-increasing need for trained medical librarians, adequate space, equipment, books, and journals. The growth in scientific research and writings requires a systematic accumulation of the valuable information and an orderly, speedy method of retrieval if the health of the Nation is to be advanced. The report of the President's Commission on Health Disease, Cancer, and Stroke emphasized what was generally known, that medical libraries are inadequate in terms of space, trained staff, and essential volumes, and the Commission recommended immediate attention to this by the Congress. It is our belief that nursing education will benefit greatly by the program proposed in the Medical Library Facilities Act of 1965, especially since a comprehensive index to nursing periodical literature is to be published in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine, using the facilities of medlars. We call your attention to the important part well-trained medical librarians will play in the dissemination and intelligent use of this material which will be retrieved from medlars. Therefore, we give strong support to the training grant program proposed in this legislation. In order to insure the continued inclusion of nursing school libraries in all provisions of the bill we wish to recommend that section 391 (1) of H.R. 3142, be amended to include the word "nursing" after "public health" (line 22, p. 3). Although we believe it desirable that schools of nursing share library facilities with other disciplines in the health field, it is a fact that two-thirds of the schools maintain independent facilities and desperately need the quality and numbers of volumes increased, as well as adequate physical plants. It is estimated that the number of volumes in libraries of schools of nursing is less than half of what is considered the essential minimum. If nursing is to keep abreast of the advances in science, educational materials must be readily available. We welcome this opportunity to lend our support to this very significant legislation and urge you to act favorably on our recommended amendment. Very sincerely, JUDITH G. WHITAKER (Mrs.) Judith G. Whitaker, R.N., Executive Director. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, OFFICE OF THE DEAN, Washington, D.C., February 25, 1965. Hon. OREN HARRIS, House of Representatives, DEAR CONGRESSMAN HARRIS: I want to express my support and the wholehearted support of the faculty and student body of the Georgetown University School of Medicine for the bill H.R. 3142. In the Federal program to upgrade medical education, in which your efforts have been so important, no item is more important than support for the libraries of the medical schools. These libraries are particularly important when they also serve university hospitals, schools of dentistry, and other training areas for the health professions. I know that you are well aware of the problem created by the increasing volume of important scientific medical literature. The medical center libraries are faced with rapidly developing obsolescence unless facilities can be constructed, people trained, and new techniques developed for processing, storing, and distributing information in the health sciences. Here at Georgetown University Medical Center, we are keenly aware of this problem. Indeed, we can provide a graphic demonstration of the urgency for action in the medical library field. The inadequacy of our library facilities threatens to reduce the effectiveness of our educational programs. In consultation with experts, we have now developed plans for a new library to serve the extraordinarily large population of a growing medical center: medical students. dental students, nursing students, interns, resident physicians, full-time faculty of the three health-related schools of the university, the staffs of our affiliated hospitals, and the community of physicians and dentists. We are grateful for your efforts in this vital field, and I want to assure you that we stand ready to help you in any way that we can toward the passage of this proposed legislation. Sincerely, JOHN C. ROSE, M.D., Dean. PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE OF PODIATRY, Re Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965. OFFICE OF THE DEAN, Philadelphia, Pa., February 19, 1965. Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, Room 1336, Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR SIR: Senator Lister Hill has introduced S. 597 in the Senate. Mr. Oren Harris has introduced H.R. 3142 in the House of Representatives. As a private, nonprofit institution the Pennsylvania College of Podiatry in Philadelphia, Pa., is greatly interested in supporting the passage of these bills. This college is desirous of obtaining funds of money, materials, or both, for the purpose of expanding and improving our basic medical library and related resources. It is our plan to make our resources completely available to the community. In addition, we have need for materials which cannot be stored in our library and, for this reason, are interested in the development of libraries other than our own. It is our understanding that hearings on these bills may be held during the last week of February. We are, therefore, requesting that this letter be filed from the Pennsylvania College of Podiatry as an institution performing a regional service. Very truly yours, ROBERT J. WAGNON, Dean. (Whereupon, at 12:10 p.m., the hearing was concluded.) о |