STATEMENT OF EARL J. McGRATH, COMMISSIONER; AND RALPH M. DUNBAR, CHIEF, SERVICE TO LIBRARIES SECTION, OFFICE OF EDUCATION

Dr. McGRATH. Mr. Chairman, I am glad to have an opportunity to come before this committee and talk about H. R. 5195 and related matters. This bill has the purpose to promote the further development of library service in rural areas. One can gain something of the importance of this matter, Mr. Chairman, when he recognizes that there are seven other identical bills in the House now introduced by other congressmen dealing with the same subject.

I am especially glad to discuss this matter, Mr. Chairman, because the library is one of our great educational institutions in the United States. Our statesmen, beginning with George Washington and coming down through the years, have said that the well-being of a democracy depends upon the dissemination of knowledge among the people, and certainly the libraries of this country play an important part in keeping our people informed about public issues and also they render very valuable services to individuals in their private lives.

I think one thing we have to keep in mind in discussing this bill, Mr. Chairman, is the fact that even in this country with our great system of public education, the like of which has never been seen in the world before, even with that wonderful system of education our people 25 years of age and older have only an average of 9 years of formal schooling. This isn't an adequate amount of education to prepare us for the responsibilities of living in this complex world, and the libraries of the country, where they exist, provide easily accessible information and other kinds of services.

With regard to our educational system, Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out, too, that a recent study shows that of the children in the fifth grade in elementary school, less than 50 percent ultimately graduate from high school. This means that the education of half our children, of half our future citizens, is incomplete. In a way, Mr. Chairman, that is the wrong word to use, anyway, because nobody's education is ever complete. In this world, changing as rapidly as it does, with all its numerous problems and complexities, we have to keep informing ourselves about current problems if we want to exercise the responsibilities of citizenship intelligently.

Moreover, Mr. Chairman, there were, the last time we took the statistics, something over 2 million young people in the colleges and universities of the country, 2,116,000 in 1950-51, to be exact. Many of those young people are going to be graduated, to be sure. They are going to get degrees. But, Mr. Chairman, many of them are going back into rural communities in this country. Take the farming groups, for example. Many of the graduates of our land-grant colleges will go back, as they properly should, into small rural communities in which, as I am going to show in a moment, Mr. Chairman, and as you so well know from your own State, there are no library facilities. I am not a farmer, Mr. Chairman, but I know enough about scientific farming to know that what these young people learn in the schools of agriculture and their classmates learn in the other divisions of our colleges and universities, good as that education may be, and as well prepared as they are to carry on farming at a high level of efficiency at the rate at which scientific knowledge advances

these days, they won't be in 15 or 20 years if they do not continue to inform themselves about the knowledge which is constantly produced in these institutions and in research agencies.

I would like to point to one other aspect of our culture, Mr. Chairman, which is related to the matter we are discussing this morning. As you know, a little over a year ago the Federal Security Agency held a conference on aging, one of the most important conferences ever held in this city. More than a thousand persons attended that meeting, the members of which were drawn from a cross-section of American life. One of the recommendations that came out of that group was that the library services of this Nation be expanded to serve more completely the needs of the upper age groups in our population, which, because of improvements in medical treatment and other scientific advances, are increasing proportionately.

These elderly people, we now learn, need not be retired. They need not go out of productive employment as they reach 65 and 70. We know now that they can be retrained so that they can continue to earn at least part of their living a long time after they would normally have retired. The libraries have a very important part to play in rendering this service and also in providing recreational facilities, reading facilities, for these older members of our society.

Mr. Chairman, what is the situation in the United States today with regard to library service? I have at my left my colleague, Dr. Ralph Dunbar, a member of the staff of the Office of Education, who is head of the small library unit we have there, who may wish to supplement some of my figures because I don't pretend to be an authority in this field.

I am reliably informed, Mr. Chairman, that there are 30 million of our people who have no library services at all. That is, a library is not near enough to their homes to provide them a real library service. It is true that all the States have some kind of library service in connection with the State government, and those who wish I am told may write to the State library service and get books and other forms of literature, but human nature being what it is, we know that few citizens will take advantage of those facilities, certainly many fewer than would take advantage of the library facilities if they existed around the corner as they do in my community.

We are also told, Mr. Chairman, that there are 50 million more Americans who do not have an adequate, easily accessible library service, and when you add those two figures together you get 80 million, or more than half of the citizens of the United States. I am told, too, Mr. Chairman, that those who have studied these matters believe that it costs about a dollar and a half per capita to provide a minimum library service. The total for the United States, then, would be roughly $225 million. The last figures we have available show that $105 million were spent, which leaves quite a gap, as you

can see.

This bill which you have introduced, Mr. Chairman, in my judgment would go a long way, at least it would make a good beginning in repairing these deficiencies in the library service of our Nation. It would extend library services into the rural areas. If anyone doubts that such services are needed or that our people will take advantage of them if they are made available, I commend to them this article entitled "Books on Wheels," and I will give the exact reference to the

stenotypist here so that those who wish to read it may be able to find it. This article shows that in west Georgia where no library service was at one time available, except the type of State service which I described a moment ago in which books could be borrowed from the State library, only 775 books were so borrowed in a year. But after these two bookmobiles were put into service and a number of new books provided, in a 6%-year period the number of books in circulation in that community in 1 year rose to 260,775. I don't think I need to go into the fact, Mr. Chairman, that the whole level of life in that community was raised by making these library facilities available. I have no reason to believe that west Georgia is any different from any other community in which library service is not now available.

This bill would assist the States for a 5-year period in extending their library services. I want to make clear, Mr. Chairman, that it would not in any sense provide an adequate library service for the United States as a whole. Its intent is to assist the States in setting up some library facilities in some communities to show what can be done when those facilities are available and to stimulate-I would like to emphasize that word-to stimulate local communities and the States themselves to provide these library services. In other words, this does not involve the United States Government in a long-range program of support for library services. Whether the Congress would ever want to pass such legislation I do not know, Mr. Chairman, but this legislation does not contemplate that kind of program. It is a stimulating type of thing, and the results I think can be forecast by looking at the results of the Smith-Hughes and the legislation subsequent to 1917 dealing with vocational education. Because of that legislation we have excellent programs of vocational education throughout the 48 States.

The United States Office of Education, Mr. Chairman, is interested in this legislation because for 15 years or more we have been studying the problems of library education and library service in the Office of Education. As I have said, we have had a very small staff there which has issued studies of library service periodically, that has advised with local and State libraries concerning library services, and so on. Our interest really goes back further than that, because in 1876 one of the historical documents in library service in the United States was printed and distributed by the United States Office of Education.

This legislation would provide $7.5 million for a period of 5 years, to be distributed through the Office of Education to the 48 States and the Territories on the basis of a formula. Forty thousand dollars would be allotted to each State directly, and to three of the Territories. In the case of the Virgin Islands, $10,000 would be allotted. That would account for roughly $2,050,000. In addition to that, about $5.5 million would be distributed on a formula basis, the formula taking into account the percentage of persons living in the various States in rural communities as compared with the percentage of those living in rural communities in the entire United States.

A State plan would have to be submitted under this legislation by each State wishing to participate in this program, and that State plan under this law, if it were passed, would have to be approved by the Commissioner of Education in order to determine that the intentions of the Congress were carried out in the State plan. I want to make

1 Books on Wheels, by Edith Foster, director, West Georgia Regional Library, Carrollton, Ga.

clear and emphasize for the record, Mr. Chairman, that nothing in this act contemplates putting in the hands of the Commissioner of Education any authority to interfere with or determine the policies or practices of education or library service in the 48 States. Those responsibilities would remain, as they properly should, in the hands of the State authorities and the local communities. The responsibilities of the Office of Education, then, would be limited, after examining these plans, merely to certifying to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States that money could be paid over to the States to carry out the intention of this legislation.

Also I would like to point out, Mr. Chairman, that a very small sum would be involved in the staffing of this service in the Office of Education. The vast proportion of this money would go into the States to extend the library services.

That concludes my formal presentation, Mr. Chairman. I would be glad to attempt to answer any questions which the members of the committee may wish to ask. If I can't answer them, I will ask my colleague, Mr. Dunbar, to attempt to do so. I want to say again that I appreciate having the opportunity to testify on this bill.

Mr. TACKETT. We certainly appreciate your being here, Dr. McGrath, and your statement I think fully covers the points involved. Do you have a question, Mr. Howell?

Mr. HOWELL. I am sorry I missed the first part of your talk, Mr. McGrath. Could you tell me in just a few words what library activities your Department conducts now? Is it any major part of your operations?

Dr. McGRATH. Yes, sir; I am glad to say we have seven persons in the library unit of the United States Office of Education. Four of them are professionals, two of them are secretaries, and one is a statistician. Our service in the past with that small staff, Mr. Howell, has been related mostly to gathering statistical information about library services and distributing that information to the library profession and to lay groups in the United States. I say mostly limited to that. We have, however, rendered consultative services to communities which wished to establish, extend, or improve library facilities. Dr. Dunbar does some of that and his colleagues also assist him. I want to say, Mr. Howell, I am glad you asked this question because it gives me an opportunity to tell the Members of Congress something about what has been going on in the Office of Education since June of 1950. Many of our important services like this one unfortunately have had to be suspended or curtailed because of emergency activities.

I will give you one concrete example. There was a time a year ago when, as the members of this committee will remember, there was a tremendous demand for steel in various sections of the country. In fact, we had hearings, as you will remember, Mr. Howell, in the late fall. We had to take 40 or 50 members of our staff off their normal activities, such as dealing with library problems, and throw them into the breach in order to get the steel out to the schools in reasonably good time, as I am happy to be able to say we did, without additional financial assistance from the Government. But I wouldn't like that to continue, Mr. Howell. Steel is only one example. I can give you other examples. But if it did continue, all these services that we have been normally rendering to the schools and the libraries would have to be discontinued, and I think in the long run that would be to the

disadvantage of the country and in the long run it would interfere with the military effort itself, because our military effort depends in large measure on the skills and the intelligence of our people, to say nothing of the preservation of our free institutions, which also depend on education.

Mr. HOWELL. Is Dr. Dunbar the top man in your library section? Dr. MCGRATH. Yes, sir.

Mr. HOWELL. What is his title?

Dr. MCGRATH. You give your title, Dr. Dunbar.

Dr. DUNBAR. Chief, Service to Libraries Section.

Mr. HOWELL. You say you have some consulting service. Is that directly with communities which perhaps write in and ask your advice or help on certain matters?

Dr. MCGRATH. There is a variety of things, Mr. Howell. As you know, a good deal of the activity of the office, the consulting work and supplying of information, is done for Members of Congress themselves, but we also work with libraries and school systems in the States, and on request in local communities.

Dr. DUNBAR. Through the State library agencies as far as possible. If it comes from an individual college or university we will help them.

Mr. HOWELL. All I was trying to get at was whether you have a section or division that operates at a high enough level really to have some standing in your Department and really do some things.

Dr. MCGRATH. We are inadequately staffed, Mr. Howell. Four professional persons cannot do very much in this great country. We attempt to do as much as we can with the people we have and the facilities we have. We are proud of what Dr. Dunbar and his associates have been doing, and I think before your hearings are concluded, Mr. Howell, members of the American Library Association and others will testify about the worth of the services of the office. So perhaps I don't need to say any more on that subject, but I will say that we could not handle this legislation with the present staff. We would have to have a small additional staff.

Mr. HOWELL. Have you any accurate information as to what additional staff you might require?

Dr. McGRATH. Yes, sir. I would like to put this into the record. We have estimated that the additional staff required would be four library extension specialists, four research assistants, three statisticians and I will lump all the others-six others, clerical and secretarial. That totals $80,000 for personal services.

Mr. HOWELL. Thank you very much.

Mr. TACKETT. Mr. Greenwood?

Mr. GREENWOOD. Have you any idea how many States are providing traveling library facilities now?

Dr. MCGRATH. Traveling libraries? Ralph, could you supply that figure?

Dr. DUNBAR. Forty-eight States have State library agencies, but less than half would have traveling libraries. I suppose by that you mean not only the old-time collection of books that would go from community to community, but the bookmobiles.

Mr. GREENWOOD. That is right. Do you believe, Dr. McGrath, the provision of more libraries will help to make up some of the deficiency in our educational system wherein we are lacking provision for 2 million children?

Dr. McGRATH. I do indeed, Mr. Greenwood. Some of us don't