To keep librarians and laymen informed of library matters, the Bureau has increased its distribution of materials 43 percent since 1957 in addition to the Bureau's Newsletter. This increased distribution was made possible by new mailing facilities provided under the Library Services Act.

II. The Tri-County Library Service Center serving Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in southern New Jersey has been set up as a branch of the Bureau. The headquarters was leased in November 1957, and delivery of equipment and supplies completed in April 1958. A staff of six has been employed. The bookmobile was delivered in January 1958 and placed in operation in February on 9 biweekly circuits to 35 stops. It has circulated 113,830 volumes since 1958 to 5,497 residents.

The total

Over 18,800 books have been purchased and processed for the center. circulation for the rural libraries in the area increased 13 percent over 1957. Sixty bookmobile aides and local correspondents for newspapers in the area were contacted by personal letter to solicit their help in publicizing library affairs. Outstanding publicity has resulted.

Other Significant Facts

Several cooperative projects have been established within the State—the New Jersey Film Circuit being an example. The Bergen-Passaic Library Club devoted two of its quarterly meetings to study of cooperative measures. A Middlesex County Freeholder sponsored two meetings to explore possibilities of cooperative activities in that county. The Paramus Public Library sponsored three meetings with contiguous communities, and final steps are now in process for cooperative book selection among five libraries. Local libraries showed an increase of 9 percent in circulation over 1957 and a 13.6 percent increase in local appropriations.

The State agency, in conjunction with the New Jersey Library Association Library Development Committee, developed minimal standards for federations. In 1959 the proposed standards were approved by the State Board of Education as regulations to implement the Federation Act. They now have the effect of law.

A bill to provide State grants passed the legislature in 1959. Payments can be made starting in September 1960.

NEW MEXICO

Statistical Summary

Services

Number

Counties now receiving library service which were unserved prior to program.
People in these counties to whom service is now available..
Counties with some service prior to program now receiving improved or ex-
tended service. . . .

3

15, 266

18

People in these counties to whom this service is available..
Bookmobiles purchased under program.

237, 189

Program Accomplishments, March 18, 1957, to June 30, 1959

I. The State agency has been strengthened by the addition of a reference librarian to handle special requests and reference questions from the rural areas and to strengthen the collections and prepare bibliographies. Clerical staff has also been employed.

II. Four regional branches of the State library have been established, serving 21 of the State's 32 counties. Each region has been started with professional and clerical help, a basic book collection, a bookmobile, and a station wagon. Quarters have been provided by local communities. Centralized cataloging for the regions was developed at the Southwestern Region headquarters, and this service has now been transferred to the State agency.

A. The Northern Region (Taos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, and Torrance Counties) was started in 1957 with headquarters at Espanola. This region extends over 13,000 square miles, has a rural population of 59,000, more than 75 percent being from Spanish-speaking families. Funds budgeted for the period 1957-59 totaled $73,550. The book collection contains 10,000 volumes and a total of 131,000 books have been issued. Deposit stations supplement the bookmobile

Open house for the Northeastern Regional Library, Cimarron, N. Mex., January 10, 1959. Tea was served by women of the local Home Extension Club.

and the stations are visited semimonthly by the regional librarian. The Espanola Public Library, housed in the same building as the regional library, has entered into a cooperative purchasing program with the regional library and as subscribed to the centralized cataloging service offered by the State agency. B. The Eastern Plains Region (Curry, Roosevelt, De Baca, Quay, and Guadalupe Counties), with headquarters in Clovis, began bookmobile service in December 1957. The region covers more than 12,000 square miles and serves a population of 46,600, who are predominantly "anglos." Funds budgeted for the 1957-59 period totaled $75,668. The book collection is under 10,000 volumes, and

27,622 books have been circulated.

C. The Southwestern Region was started in June 1958 with headquarters at Silver City. This is the largest region in the State, covering 7 counties, or 32,000 square miles, and has a rural population of 83,000. The amount budgeted for the period 1957-59 was $61,064. The book collection contains 7,300 volumes, and a total of 18,000 books have been issued. Monthly radio programs have been started and an advisory committee meets regularly. D. The Northeastern Region (Colfax, Union, Harding, Mora, and San Miguel Counties) did not open until January 1959. This area comprises more than 16,400 square miles and the entire population of 62,378 is rural. Funds budg. eted for the period 1958-59 totaled $40,466, and the book collection numbers 5,425 volumes. The headquarters, located in a municipal building, also serves the community of Cimarron, which had no library.

Other Significant Facts

A statewide workshop cosponsored by the Trustees Division of the New Mexico Library Association was held.

NEW YORK

Statistical Services

Services

Counties now receiving library service which were unserved prior to program.

People in this county to whom service is now available..

Counties with some service prior to program now receiving improved or extended service...

People in these counties to whom this service is available.

Bookmobiles purchased under program.

Field librarians..

Other professional librarians .

Clerks and drivers.

Others..

Total.

Personnel added

Number

0

0

57

2,763, 362

1

7

1

1

4

13

Program Accomplishments, November 1, 1956, to June 30, 1959

I. The value of bookmobile service to rural readers and its use as an incentive to form library systems under the provisions of the State Education Law have been effectively demonstrated through the use of the demonstration bookmobile. Ordered during the first period of the grant, it was delivered in 1958 and immediately placed in operation. It has toured the State, being exhibited at county fairs and at the State fair. Since January 1959, the bookmobile has been in active use as part of the Southern Adirondack Library System, the first cooperative system organized under the revised State law. By contract, the bookmobile is on loan to the region for 1 year.

II. A complete revision of the lending procedures of the Traveling Libraries Section has been made. Emphasis has been placed on the promotion of cooperation between libraries and systems of libraries, and books are lent only to systems or cooperative units. Collections, ranging from 2,000 to 7,000 volumes, have been sent to new systems to provide the beginning of a book pool.

III. The addition of seven consultant and four clerical positions has strengthened the field services of the Division of Library Extension. It has made it possible to emphasize special fields: young adults, children's, and reference services. Almost every library has had at least one annual visit; workshops have been held, and booklists prepared and distributed.

IV. The project for education for rural librarianship has many phases.

A. Training scholarships-or grants for professional study in public librarianship-have been granted to 37 college graduates. The grants have varied from $350 to $2,000 and have been awarded in order of merit, based on a qualifying examination. Nine grants have been awarded beginning in the fall and seven candidates will begin their studies in midterm (1960). B. Grants of $100 each were made to librarians and trustees to enable them to visit and study systems as an aid to improvement of service within their area. An article based on a visit to a small library in a library system which gave worldwide publicity to rural library problems appeared in the New York Times.

C. Fifty-one workshops have been held in all areas of the State and have had great support. The major subjects of the workshops were children's work and reference services.

V. Some cooperative projects have been successfully concluded and others are still in operation.

A. The cooperative project in children's work involved 17 participating li braries, of which 15 were rural. Five 1-day workshops were held and halfday visits were made to each participating library with followups when necessary. Grants of children's books were received by individual libraries and a rotating collection of 2,000 children's books has been supplied to supplement the collections. The area is now formally organized as part of the Southern Tier Library System and is under the supervision of trained personnel. The work initiated by this project will continue.

B. Twenty libraries have participated in the second cooperative project in young adult work. The area covers Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties. Four workshops have been held, with the objective of educating and training

community librarians in methods appropriate to young adult work and stimulating active cooperative participation in the area leading to the formation of a system. The local consultant has visited the participating libraries approximately every 2 months.

C. The third cooperative project was a science rotating collection in Niagara, Orleans, and Genesee Counties in which 19 libraries participated. Approximately 400 titles were selected by the group and rotated among the participants. These counties will be part of the Nioga Library System to be established in July 1959.

D. A communications project was the fourth of the series and was started in 1959. Teletypewriter (TWX) service has been installed in the following library systems: North Country, Southern Adirondack, Clinton-Essex County, and Westchester. This device connects the systems directly with the State Library. It is too new for evaluation, but the Southern Adirondack, in the second month of its operation as a system, sent 113 requests for interlibrary loan items, and Clinton-Essex, a long-established system, requested 144 items in the first complete month after installation.

Grants of $1,000 for telephone service have been allotted to each system with teletype service to facilitate interlibrary loans between local libraries and the systems.

E. In addition to these four cooperative projects, accepted plans of library systems (invited to suggest improvements of rural library service in their areas) merited grants of $4,000 each to North Country Library System for a record and tape collection, Finger Lakes Library System for a record collection, Chemung Library System for expansion of book service to rural areas, and the Southern Tier Library System for rotating collections of books for rural libraries.

VI. Four regional library development conferences were held for trustees; 91 libraries participated, and attendance numbered 137. To assist system-planning committees, small grants for promotional work have been allotted. Three committees have brought their plans to completion.

VII. A film and record collection has been started for use in rural areas.

There are

approximately 300 titles in the film collection and 6 circuits have been set up. Service was started in February 1959, when small collections were made available to rural libraries for a 3-month period. Emphasis has been placed on language records, opera, and orchestral selections.

Other Significant Facts

An important feature in the revised State aid law (passed in 1958) is book aid to system central libraries with holdings of less than 100,000 volumes. As part of the program, over 7,000 nonfiction titles have been provided for 3 systems.

In addition, grants of $100 worth of reference books for libraries serving under 5,000 population have been made to libraries not in systems.

One of the important factors in the accelerated development of library systems has been the availability of consultant staff made possible by the Library Services Act. By July 1959, there were 15 library systems serving 31 counties and including 271 member libraries. It is expected that by 1965 all counties in the State will be included in a total of about 22 systems.