Keuka is a very fine upstate New York school. My neighbor, Jean McIntosh, keeps telling me about it.

Dr. LowRIE. I know her very well.

Mr. PEYSER. John, I want to express my real appreciation that you are here this morning. I think it is important for the record to indicate, although you may not want to emphasize it at this point, that you are 15 years old and I think in 2 days you are going to be 16, so my early congratulations to you. I think that it is great that you have this active interest, and I think this is just very important for us to have young people like yourself who are willing to do this kind of thing and get

involved.

I think it is a real plus for the library system as well.

Dr. Burkhardt, I would like to ask a question dealing with one phase of your report, and that is on page 5, the question of potential of new technology.

This is an area in which I have been very interested. I have found through visits to a number of libraries, school libraries as well as public libraries, that audiovisual material, if used correctly, can be a tremendous stimulus to learning and the use of libraries.

From what I have seen, though, I don't think they are used nearly as well in libraries as their potential would indicate they could be used.

I am wondering if in the work you do in the Commission if there is anything that has been directed to libraries on how to really utilize better this type of learning vehicle.

Dr. BURKHARDT. Mr. Peyser, in the studies we have made, there is agreement with your observation; namely, that the libraries have not used audiovisual aids to quite their full potential yet.

I think there are various reasons for this. One is lack of training, lack of education in the use and in the capacity of these new instruments.

Time will take care of this, but there is nothing really that can be done about it except to make clear the power of this new technology of various kinds and try to get it understood.

I think we are in a transitional period now. I am an optimist about it working out. The great part of the youth of this country being so accustomed to getting its information through the picture and sound media that it is bound to be one of the major avenues of getting knowledge and information. So, I would say it is largely an educational matter.

Mr. PEYSER. As an amateur on this-and I throw this out just as an idea and not a question but something you have already looked at. One of the problems I have seen is that this kind of equipment and this kind of material is not cataloged so that it is just as accessible as is a book on a certain subject matter.

I found when we made inquiries on this there was a great deal of difficulty in finding where this material was located.

So, I am just saying as a suggestion, if there is any way before the conference in 1976 even of promoting this type of thing, I think it is a real tool that is a plus for libraries.

Dr. BURKHARDT. Perhaps Miss Lowrie has something to say about this.

26-482-74- -5

Dr. LowRIE. I would like to comment on it as a library educator and as president of the American Library Association.

We have a committee in the association studying and promoting how we can get greater use of hardware and software in libraries; second, I think in all of our library school programs we are definitely encour aging the use of total media as a concept in library services.

Third, I would like to point out we are having programs in continuing education, in-training service and workshops and so forth for librarians in the field in order to get them familiar, to orient them, to take away some of the fear there is of using this kind of material.

Yes; it is a problem but it is one about which we are attempting to do something. Certainly by the time of the White House Conference we should have some exciting information available to share.

Dr. BURKHARDT. In the early days, most of this automated, technological material was oversold and expectations were created that were not lived up to and the great disappointment ensued.

I think this is only now just beginning to be rectified. Now, I think there is a much better understanding of the limitations and of the power. The technology has now improved so that some of the things can be delivered today were just sales talk, 5. 8. 10 vears ago.

Dr. LOWRIE. May I also add an interrelationship between print and nonprint is being built into programs now so they are not two separate tracks down which we are moving.

Mr. PEYSER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. BRADEMAS. It may be of interest to know that this subcommittee has jurisdiction over educational technology, so we do have some opportunity to have in mind your concerns and the concerns in that field and the interrelationships as we legislate.

Thank you all very much, indeed, Miss Lowrie, Dr. Burkhardt, and Mr. Harlan.

We appreciate your testimony.

We have two more panels, the Chair would say, composed of two witnesses each.

The next two witnesses are the Honorable Quincey Mumford, the Librarian of Congress, and Mr. James B. Rhoads, the Archivist of the United States.

Dr. Mumford and Mr. Rhoads, would you make your way up to the

witness table?

us.

We are very pleased to have both of you distinguished officials with

Dr. Mumford, Mr. Rhoads, as the Chair said earlier, if you would be kind enough to summarize your statements that will afford the members of the subcommittee more opportunity to question you.

STATEMENT OF L. QUINCY MUMFORD, LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS

Dr. MUMFORD. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, my statement is relatively brief.

I appreciate this opportunity to appear here to speak to House Joint Resolutions 734, 766, and related resolutions to authorize and request the President to call a White House Conference on Library and Information Services in 1976.

I think it is particularly fitting that such a conference should be held in 1976, not only because of our Nation's Bicentennial and the

American Library Association's centennial, but because this is the 20th anniversary of the First Federal Library Services Act.

With the passage of that act, which was a long time in the making, the Congress recognized the needs of its citizens in the area of library

services.

Quite correctly, the first Federal resources allotted for library services went to those rural areas that had heretofore been unable to obtain such service.

Certainly one of the most poignant scenes during the late fifties and early sixties was the sight of a bookmobile well stacked with library materials and a friendly librarian dispensing free library services to citizens in remote rural areas.

As was the case in social, scientific, and technological fields, the 1960's wrought tremendous changes in library service and in library technology.

It is my own personal opinion that this period will historically be one of the most important for library service in America.

With the rapid advance of technology and the advent of the computer, many librarians gradually became information scientists.

The application of computer processes to technical library processing was a dream 13 years ago and today the Library of Congress is distributing cataloging data for English and French language books, serials, maps, and films in all languages on magnetic tape to libraries and processing centers throughout the country.

Plans are underway to extend the book program to other foreign languages. Numerous computer applications to library processes are now considered routine.

The 1960's saw major moves toward cooperative library services. The Library of Congress Public Law 480 program and the national program for acquisitions and cataloging were initiated.

Tremendous dollar savings have been effected through these programs and as a byproduct standardization among libraries has become a reality.

This standardization is necessary if we are to continue to advance in the application of computer technology.

The last decade was the period when the Library of Congress reading program for the blind was extended to the physically handicapped. In 1966 when the extension was requested, we were servicing approximately 100,000 readers. Today that figure is nearly 400,000 and it is growing every day.

It was also during this period that elementary and secondary school libraries received a tremendous boost resulting from title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

In many of the buildings erected during this period, the library is the central learning center for the school.

From the number of invitations to library dedications that I have received, I am well aware of the incentive provided by the library construction provisions of the Library Services and Construction Act and the Higher Education Act.

More recently, the library profession has carried on a searching inquiry of library and information science first through the National Advisory Commission on Libraries and then through the permanent Commission on Libraries and Information Science.

Today we are all aware of the tremendous competition for Federal funds. Libraries in particular have lived a see-saw existence during the last few fiscal years.

Dire consequences are being predicted by librarians should Federal funding be further curtailed or eliminated.

The point I am leading to is that librarians have in some instances been reacting to the same pressures that have been felt by other segments of our educational community and in many instances have not had the time for much serious reflection on the questions of goals and the role of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science in establishing these goals.

We must not let the basic goal of getting books into the hands of readers be impeded by the necessary emphasis on information science. In other instances, serious reflection has not been given to an evaluation of the varied and innovative library programs aimed at the culturally and materially disadvantaged citizen.

I mention these only as examples of areas that need attention.

A White House Conference on Library and Information Services could not be better timed. A conference in Washington which would reflect all aspects of librarianship-school, public, State, academic, special, Federal, and computer technology-could have a very meritorious effect on the future of library and information services throughout the country.

I think that the Senate report stated this quite well in saying that a White House conference would not necessarily produce a blueprint or master plan but that new patterns of cooperation and coordination could be achieved through articulation of the White House conference of recommendations that will evoke the voluntary support of interested citizens and professional librarians.

The time has come, I believe, for consideration and discussion of what has been achieved in the years of phenomenal growth and of what needs to be achieved in the future.

I know that we at the Library of Congress and I daresay the Federal library community, which is represented by the Federal Library Committee established by the Library of Congress and the then Bureau of the Budget in 1965-have several priorities that need to be discussed with the general library community.

gress and the then Bureau of the Budget in 1965-have several prior ities that need to be discussed with the general library community.

One of the more pressing problems we are going to have to face is the problem of preservation of library materials-something that should be of immediate concern to librarians of all kinds of libraries. I note that House Joint Resolution 766 authorizes the Librarian of Congress to detail personnel to the National Commission to assist them in carrying out their responsibilities for such a conference.

We will, of course, be very happy to provide the conference with key specialists on our staff whose expertise in library technology is unique.

I would, however, hope that this would be on a reimbursable service basis. In most instances, we would need to continue to carry on the functions performed by these individuals should there be a prolonged

absence.

I would be happy to answer any questions the subcommittee might

have.

Mr. BRADEMAS. Thank you, Dr. Mumford.

Dr. Rhoads?

STATEMENT OF DR. JAMES B. RHOADS, ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES

Dr. RHOADS. Mr. Chairman, I am most appreciative of this opportunity to appear before the Select Subcommittee on Education in its consideration of the several resolutions calling for a White House Conference in 1976 on Library and Information Services.

I am sure we all sympathize with the objectives of House Joint Resolutions 734 and 766. Access to information and ideas is indeed indispensable to the development of human potential, to the advancement of civilization, and to the continuance of enlightened self-govern

ment.

Libraries and information centers are among those institutions whose primary purpose and function is the preservation and dissemination of information, and their growth and expansion are essential if all Americans are to have reasonable access to adequate information services.

In recent years, these important institutions have received much nationwide attention.

I understand that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is submitting a report to the committee indicating the administration's position on House Joint Resolutions 734 and 766. I would, therefore, defer to the Department as to their specific provisions.

I would like to take this opportunity, however, to call to the attention of this committee an even more vital source of information to which little consideration is given.

Books and journals, reports and special studies the entire body of published materials that are the special province of libraries and information centers-are certainly important to our people and to our Nation.

But behind the flood of publications, and all too frequently obscured by the flood are the unpublished sources, the archives and manuscripts, public and private, upon which publications directly or indirectly are based.

The value of current records and personal papers as sources of information is fully understood by this committee. But as these unpublished sources become noncurrent, as they are no longed needed to conduct day-to-day activities, it is essential that adequate provision be made for their appraisal in terms of archival value, and that those that have enduring value be properly preserved and made readily accessible.

Archives and manuscripts constitute the primary source materials on which published secondary works are based or should be based.

Thus, in a way that the resources of libraries and information centers are not, the resources of archival agencies and manuscript repositories comprise the very bedrock of the library and information science community itself.

Archives and manuscripts document the rights and interests of citizens and of government at every level. In addition to their administative, legal, and fiscal values they contain unique information of wide research and broad educational value.