this is because of the increase in population due to immigration into the war industrial areas. Many of the families coming into the State to work in war industries have settled in the rural areas around larger cities. Such areas, as part of the rural government, are able only to furnish the minimum services, which very rarely include any type of library service. In other parts of the State at least one-half of the public libraries are deficient in book and other library materials resources. For instance, in the Northern Peninsula during 1949-50, only $53,366 was reported as spent for books, although this area contains 302,258 people. In the northern half of the Lower Peninsula, with 423,414 population, only $41,441 or only 9.7 cents per person was used for library materials. Judiciously selected, easily accessible library materials-books, pamphlets, films, and recordings are essential to an informed citizenry capable of making intelligent decisions so much needed in time of crisis. The public library has been found to be the most efficient and economical means of insuring this to all residents on equal terms. House bill 5195 provides the means whereby better and more equalized library service can be obtained for the people throughout the Nation. We trust you will give it favorable consideration and help to secure its benefits to the people of our country. ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE, Hotel Congressional, Washington 3, D. C. STATE OF MINNESOTA, DEAR SIRS: As director of the library division of the State department of education, I am very anxious to see favorable action on the library services bill, H. R. 5195. The development of additional modern public library service in Minnesota can be definitely stimulated by the passage of this bill. Its strengthening of service to rural people would be of great significance. Very truly yours, RUSSELL J. SCHUNK, ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE, MISSISSIPPI STATE LIBRARY COMMISSION, Hotel Congressional, Washington 3, D. C.: The Mississippi Library Commission heartily endorses the bill for Federal funds to aid the States in a library development program. We believe libraries are a great force in adult education and the stabilization of democratic citizenship. In a State such as Mississippi which has not been financially able to support the highest type of educational services, resulting in a high percentage of illiteracy, libraries are particularly needed. We do not expect the Federal Government to carry the whole load but only to supplement and aid States that are making an effort to provide informational materials to the people through public library service. Through the efforts of the Mississippi Library Commission municipal, county, and regional libraries throughout the State are making a valiant effort to give library service to all the people. Total public library expenditures for the year 1951 were $441,568.18 which, with a population of 2,178,917 is an average expenditure of 20 cents per capita (standard requirements for minimum library operation are $1.50 per capita). Of the 82 counties in Mississippi only 21 county libraries offer anything like standard library service; 36 county libraries are making some effort but offer very substandard service, ranging from an income of $200 to a few thousand dollars per year; 25 counties in the State do not have a public library within their borders. Whatever is done to aid the public library program in the United States should help to raise the educational level of the people. Sincerely yours, Mrs. EUNICE ELEY, Director. Miss JULIA D. BENNETT, Hotel Congressional, Washington, D. C.: MISSOULA, MONT., April 2, 1952. Montana Library Commission urges favorable action H. R. 5195. State needs funds to demonstrate regional units give more effective and efficient service. ELLEN TORGRIMSON, Secretary. NEW MEXICO STATE LIBRARY COMMISSION, Miss JULIA D. BENNETT, Hotel Congressional, Washington 3, D. C. DEAR MISS BENNETT: The passage of the library services bill is of great importance to New Mexico, as it is to most of the States in this area, where the distances are so great, the population largely rural and scattered, and the available sources for reading and information, so essential to our citizens in this time, are wholely inadequate. New Mexico is the fourth largest State in area, with about six people per square mile, and one of the lowest per capita incomes. It has a shockingly high rate of illiteracy which may be attributed, in part, to poor school libraries, especially in the elementary grades, and to lack of public library facilities in the rural sections and small communities. It is a poor State with more than 58 percent of its lands not subject to property taxation since these are Federal public domain, Indian reservations, national forests, national parks, military lands, and State lands. Both the State and local governments of New Mexico, in spite of low revenues, have tried to meet the needs of the people. The State library commission gives aid to schools through loans of book collections and help in organization and to public libraries through matching funds, long-term book loans, and professional advisory services. It is Commission policy to help first those communities which have tried to help themselves. The services still do not reach the rural people who need them most. This is especially true in the more populated northern counties of the State where the majority of the people are rural, Spanish-speaking, and of low-income levels. Of all our people they are the most eager and responsive. They also are the ones which receive least service because it is difficult to reach their small and remote communities without bookmobiles which neither they nor the State library commission can afford. The State legislature has been generous within the limits of available revenues, but the rural people of New Mexico will remain without sources of continuing self-education, information, and wholesome recreation through books and reading unless some means is found to extend and multiply readily accessible centers of library service. Passage of the library services bill will provide the means, supplementing local and State efforts. The State library commission is authorized by law and has the organization and facilities with which to put in cperation a program of library development, through increased book stocks, increased cutlets for borrowing books, bookmobiles, and professional advisory services and supervision. The program would include aid to rural elementary and high schools, where needed, as well as to the adult public. The State library commission believes libraries to be an essential and important service for good citizenship. It urges the passage of the library services bill to aid in the more rapid development of good library programs in the State and in the Nation. Sincerely yours, JULIA BROWN ASPLUND, Chairman. Executive secretary, New Mexico State Library Commission. Copies to Hon. John J. Dempsey, Washington, D. C.; Hon. A. F. Fernandez, Washington, D. C. STATEMENT IN BEHALF OF NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY COMMISSION, RALEIGH, N. C. Passage of the library services bill can mean the extension of public library service to all North Carolinians through larger and stronger units of service and the enrichment of public library service throughout the State. The existing libraries with inadequate informational resources and limited professional personnel are not meeting the needs of our citizens. Each year more Tarheels are turning to their public libraries as their source of reliable information and we are selling them short with only one-half book per capita, and in many instances no professional assistance to help in securing desired information. Provisions of the library services bill will help improve these limited public library facilities in North Carolina. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, OHIO STATE LIBRARY, Columbus, March 28, 1952. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON OFFICE, DEAR SIRS: The library services bill H. R. 5195 would be of great help to library service in the State of Ohio. 1. It would help to provide library service to those areas of the State now without it. 2. It would enable the purchase and operation of a bookmobile for demonstration purposes in counties now without bookmobile service. 3. It would help to equalize present library services. Many rural libraries in Ohio are financially inadequate because of local tax collections. There just isn't enough money collected to provide minimum library service. 4. It would help to provide the smaller libraries of the State with more books. The book stock of many of the small libraries is far from adequate. It is a frequent practice among them to limit children to one book at a time because they do not have enough to go around. 5. It would enable two or more counties to support a library between them. At the present time there are areas of the State where the population and finances of a single county cannot support library service. If Federal funds could be used to set up library service on a joint basis among these counties it would enable library service to be provided where it does not now exist. Sincerely yours, WALTER BRAHM, State Librarion. Mrs. JULIA BENNETT, OKLAHOMA LIBRARY COMMISSION, Hotel Congressional, Washington, D. C. DEAR MRS. BENNETT: It has come to the attention of this office that hearings are being held on H. R. 5195, the library services bill. That bill is vital to the development of library service to rural communities and areas in this State. The facilities through which these people are receiving their present service have been stretched far beyond their means, and more than 50 percent of our rural population are still without local library service of any kind. Bookmobiles for isolated areas are nonexistant and neither State nor local libraries can reach all the people under present circumstances. The passage of this legislation would act as a lever for the extension agency to encourage growth of service in local communities, thus placing future support on their own shoulders. Your cooperation in relaying this information to the subcommittee will be greatly appreciated. Very truly yours, ELIZABETH C. COOPER, OREGON STATE LIBRARY, AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON OFFICE, Hotel Congressional, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: Oregon is in desperate need of financial assistance to its libraries. As you may know, this State increased 39.6 percent in the decade from 1940 to 1950. This has placed a burden on the local tax dollar which is suddenly called upon to pay for needed schools, new streets, water and sewerage systems, as well as many other mandatory services. This State also possesses a very trying tax limitation, known as the 6 percent tax limitation, which means that local city or county budgets may not exceed by more than 6 percent the budget in any one of the three preceding years, without the expense of special elections, which have left libraries without any public support. Citizen groups in the State are working with a vigor almost beyond belief, sometimes, to establish libraries, augment budgets, and extend services, with often discouraging results. The Oregon State Library supplements this local need as much as possible, but our last report shows that there are still almost 250,000 residents in the State without local library service, out of a population of 1,500,000. While the State library does fill mail requests, it can never adequately replace a local library with its personal services and direct contact with the reader. In the face of almost unbelievable Federal budget requests for information services abroad, it seems little enough to ask for a crust of bread to provide these same services to citizens of our own country. Many Oregonians who have made their needs known to us would be most grateful for your support of H. R. 5195. Very sincerely yours, ELEANOR STEPHENS, Librarian. STATEMENT IN BEHALF OF SOUTH CAROLINA STATE LIBRARY Board, COLUMBIA, S. C. A great corporation begins every radio broadcast with this statement: "A good citizen is a well-informed citizen." The protection of our democratic form of Government depends upon a well-informed citizenry. The people of this country must be armed with information to enable them to understand the values of democracy and to defend those values against subversive ideas and ideologies. Wherever it exists, the public library is supplying the information necessary to build a strong America and to defend the ideals of democracy. It is unfortunate that the American public library does not exist for a large percentage of the people of the country. In South Carolina 32 percent of the population have no public library service whatsoever. These people are largely rural folk who live in the poorer counties of the State. Their only access to information is through newspapers, periodicals, and radio. To many of them their only contact with information is through a county newspaper which is devoted largely to local information. In no way does this meager supply of reading material prepare the individual to become an intelligent citizen. The library services bill which is now before Congress is designed to assist the States in improving and extending public library service to all citizens. Its enactment into law would mean that accurate and reliable information would be available to great numbers of people who previously did not have access to such information. The South Carolina State Library Board and the South Carolina Library Association have endorsed the library services bill. Its passage would mean the improvement of existing library service and the extension of this service over the entire State. TENNESSEE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON OFFICE, Hotel Congressional, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: The Tennessee Library Association is indeed hopeful that the library services bill will be passed by both Houses of Congress this year so that books can start flowing to the more than a million Tennesseans now beyond the reach of any library service. Our members know the great need that exists here for free library books and the real happiness and varied benefits that this material can bring to the people it touches. They realize, too, that we are now living in an ideological age and that this country's strength lies in the character and intelligence of its people. The need today is for a real program of adult education that will bring a plentiful supply of free books within easy range of everyone, regardless of where they live. We in Tennessee are ready to do the job, whenever the tools are forthcoming. Sincerely, ROBERT S. ALVAREZ, President, Tennessee Library Association. STATEMENT OF HELEN KEEBLE, PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, RICHMOND, VA. On behalf of the members of the Virginia Library Association, I wish to urge the adoption of the library service bill (H. R. 5195) now under consideration. The efforts of our association were directed, during the fall and winter, toward assisting its legislative committee in presenting to the Virginia General Assembly a bill to increase State aid to local and regional libraries. Although some increase in funds was voted, it was not sufficient to begin library service in most areas in the State which have not been able to establish their own libraries. It seems to me that now, more than ever, we need the help which the bill for Federal aid to libraries would give us. Virginia includes both rural areas without any kind of library service, and crowded defense areas with changing population which strain the resources of established libraries. Both could benefit from the provisions of the library service bill. All taxpayers are aware of the necessity for economy and efficiency in government operations, and of the need for wise spending. But I firmly believe that the relatively small amounts involved will be money well invested in understanding of our own problems as Americans and of the problems of the world today. If we cannot afford to provide free, unbiased information for our own citizens, we must expect prejudice and misunderstanding to influence their actions. The American public library will continue to provide free information, but must have funds for operation and growth. STATEMENT OF DORA RUTH PARKS, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, WEST VIRGINIA LIBRARY COMMISSION, MORGANTOWN, W. VA. While we have made progress in West Virginia, we are moving much too slowly. There are many counties waiting for the commission to demonstrate county library service to them. Our program is one designed to build up local support at the county level, and people have to be shown the value of this type of service before they accept their share of responsibility for it. We still have less than one-third of the book stock which is considered minimum for a population unit the size of West Virginia. We would like to endorse the library services bill, H. R. 5195. STATEMENT OF MARYAN E. REYNOLDS, STATE LIBRARIAN, WASHINGTON STATE LIBRARY, OLYMPIA, WASH. In connection with the hearings on H. R. 5195 we would like to call attention to the value of the bill under consideration, and its impact on encouraging library development within the States on a local level. We here in Washington State have been most hopeful favorable action would be taken during this congressional session. Librarians, trustees, and interested lay people have been working for a number of years on an over-all plan for library development in this State. It has been agreed that the passage of the library services bill would do a great deal to forward the over-all program in the State of Washington. Since this is true within our own community, we recognize that it is even more important in areas having less resources within their own State than does the State of Washington. |