GENERAL JUSTIFICATIONS FOR LIBRARY LEGISLATION 1. Great and continuing increase in the population of the United States with marked shifts in location, educational levels, and occupational status. 2. Increased need for more and better formal and informal education. 3. Advances in science, technology, business, and other human activities which require greatly increased supporting library resources and services. 4. Rising costs of books, periodicals, and related materials. 5. A sound educational program is essential to the national interest and security. Because libraries are a necessary component of the educational structure of the Nation, the Federal Government has a stake, along with State and local communities and institutions, in helping to solve the problems of the Nation's libraries. (STAFF NOTE.-The following letter from the American Library Association, dated June 25, 1963, was subsequently received and is entered at this point by direction of the chairman :) Hon. WAYNE MORSE, AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Education, DEAR SENATOR MORSE: Enclosed is a statement by the American Library Association in support of the provisions regarding education of handicapped children in title V, part B, of S. 580, the National Education Improvement Act. We should be pleased to have this statement made a part of the record of the hearings on S. 580. Sincerely yours, GERMAINE KRETTEK, Associate Executive Director of American Library Association and STATEMENT OF MISS GERMAINE KRETTEK, ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, PREPARED FOR THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE SENATE LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE COMMITTEE ON S. 580, TITLE V, PART B The American Library Association is a nonprofit professional organization representing more than 25,000 librarians, members of library governing boards, and lay citizens interested in the development, extension, and improvement of libraries as essential factors in the educational program of the Nation. The association wishes to support title V, part B, S. 580, which provides assistance in the education of handicapped children. Our organization has long been interested in supporting the activities of those persons and associations who work in the field of handicapped children, as well as in providing the specialized library services required by the children themselves. It has served institutions, including hospitals, and private families which face the problem of children who are mentally retarded or are in some way physically disabled. Booklists, guides, visual aids, captioned films for the deaf, talking books, reading materials with large type, and other aids are some of the means employed to assist these types of children. Bookmobiles have been used to bring resources to the handicapped, both in the urban and the rural areas. Some groups of children require specialized library services because their needs are different. Outstanding examples of this are the deaf, the visually handicapped, and the retarded. For children with other handicapping conditions there are demands involving the availability and utilization of library resource materials, special conveniences not ordinarily supplied, and other special considerations. These services are our concern and are continuing to be a part of the work done by our organization just as are services for all children. Because of this universal interest on the part of libraries we will provide cooperative services with special educators toward the end of meeting the particular needs of handicapped children insofar as resources and staff permit. Although libraries have done considerable to assist both those persons working with handicapped children and also the children themselves, much remains to be done. The association is, therefore, in full accord with the provisions in S. 580 which cover in title V, part B, the training of teachers of handicapped children, scholarships for training teachers of the deaf, and research and demonstration projects in education of the handicapped. We respectfully urge this committee's approval of part B of title V, S. 580, which will provide the urgently needed Federal assistance to achieve the goals of equal opportunities for the handicapped child. STRAINS OF INCREASING LIBRARY DEMAND Miss KRETTEK. May I make one point? You mentioned that when you were in law school, there was a law library. You will be interested to know that some of the law libraries are now open all night in order to take care of the tremendous demands of students. I believe the University of Virginia Law School Library is open all night. The students using the material have completely outstripped all of the resources of the libraries. Libraries that were built 10 years ago do not have enough reader seats. Students cannot always find working space in libraries, so the latter are being kept open as many hours as it is possible to find librarians to cover an extended schedule. The universities are bursting at the seams. This in turn throws a burden on the public libraries since students are using materials wherever they can find them. It is terribly exciting, this demand of students to gain knowledge, but the resources of libraries are just not able to meet them. Senator BURDICK. I am happy to hear there are those so devoted to my ancient and honorable profession. I gather from the testimony that the public libraries will be extensively used and are extensively used by college students throughout the country. Mr. GREENWAY. That is correct. In fact, they are extensively used by students, and if you add up the students in secondary schools, the college students and so forth, in some libraries, we believe the student. use constitutes about 70 percent of those using public libraries today, this increase in that area has been so great. Senator BURDICK. That is tremendous. Thank you very much for this fine testimony. Mr. GREENWAY. Thank you. Senator BURDICK. Our next witness is Miss Helen Miller. STATEMENT OF HELEN MILLER, STATE LIBRARIAN, IDAHO STATE LIBRARY, BOISE, IDAHO Miss MILLER. Mr. Chairman, my name is Helen Miller. I am the State librarian of Idaho and an officer of the American Association of State Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. I am appearing in support of the National Education Improvement Act of 1963, which was endorsed by the American Association of State Libraries at its January 1963 meeting. As administrators of the present Library Services Act of 1956, State librarians are especially interested in title VI, part C of S. 580. This title would amend the Library Services Act (Public Law 84597) to expand its coverage to all areas, regardless of population, and to include provisions for construction of public library buildings on I have been head of the State Library of Idaho almost a year and a half. For 3 years I was a public library consultant with the West Virginia Library Commission in Charleston, W. Va. For 8 years 1 was a city and county librarian in Jefferson City, Mo. The problems of extending and improving library service in these three States are typical of those in all 50 States, as they are diverse, and yet are much alike. All States and territories are now participating in the Federal Library Services Act program. Progress has been remarkable everywhere. WEST VIRGINIA EXPERIENCE In West Virginia, as in most States, the Library Services Act meant a reawakening of interest in and support of libraries. The library commission bought books and bookmobiles, employed field librarians, and helped to establish county and regional libraries when the county commissioners would agree to budget local funds to maintain the library. We used Federal funds to set up these new libraries, to hold training institutes for librarians and trustees, to travel throughout the State and advise and assist the local libraries and trustees, to travel throughout the State and advise and assist the local libraries to build up the State book collection in order to give expanded book loan service to all libraries. Incidentally, I might say at this point that no other library experience can equal that on a new bookmobile, as the shy book-hungry children and adults first gaze at it in some wonder, and then eagerly choose the first books which they want to read from among the hundreds there on the shelves. SITUATION IN IDAHO Now, I would like to tell you about Idaho and its libraries as a small example of the nationwide need. When the Library Services Act program began in 1956, the Idaho State Library had the lowest income of any State library in the Nation-$16,000-and could not match for Federal funds. Montana with $21,000 and Alaska with $23,000 had the next lowest State library incomes. However, in the 1957 State legislature, Idaho won a larger library appropriation and became eligible to participate in the Library Services Act program. We have used these funds to strengthen the State agency, to employ staff, to buy books and two demonstration bookmobiles, to stimulate local interest in better public libraries, to help establish new libraries in rural areas, to provide a better book loan service to all libraries and to individuals living where there is no public library. Eight new district or county libraries have been voted since 1958. Idaho's total population is less than that of Washington, D.C., or Boston, or St. Louis, or Dallas. Yet our area is greater than that of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire combined. Our average population is only 8 per square mile; more than half of our counties have less than 10,000 people. Idaho ranks 50th of the 50 States in the percentage of people served by a public library. Of our 667,191 people, 41 percent, or 275,853, live in areas where there is no public library. The remaining 59 percent do have access to a public library but none of these existing libraries is adequate in bookstock, staff, building, and services. Idaho's people still have the independent outlook of a pioneer, frontier people. Each village library has remained independent. In only two instances is there a contract for joint services. However, I believe that cooperation must come. Of our libraries, and there are 87, 68 serve populations of less than 5,000. Of these, 9 serve from 5,000 to 10,000 people; and only 10 libraries serve populations of more than 10,000. We must build upon the strength of these largest libraries. SUPPORT FOR COOPERATIVE LIBRARIES To do this we would like to have the present 10,000 population limitation in the Library Services Act removed. Then we could use some of the money for direct assistance to those libraries not now eligible for funds and encourage them in turn to help the smaller libraries in each section of the State. Of course, additional Federal funds, as provided in S. 580, would be necessary for such an expanded program, in Idaho and across the Nation. In order to examine the present stage of library development and to make recommendations for the future, many States, including Idaho, have made surveys. The Idaho proposal includes the establishment of six regional libraries to cover the State completely and an incentive State grants-in-aid program to encourage cooperation and maximum local effort. S. 580 would assist in the implementation of the recommendations of the survey. Our little libraries are like our desert soil. The soil needs more than a few spring rains-it needs a full irrigation system, with dams, lakes, canals, sprinklers. A regional library would be of similar importance, with a central library in the largest town in the region, with branches, deposit stations and bookmobile service distributing a fresh supply of new books continually to everyone living in the region. Idaho has not yet attained a quality of modern library service which is significant enough for many people to turn to the library for help in such problems as job retraining, school dropouts, aging, and automation. But this will come as our libraries continue to improve under the stimulus of Federal assistance. Improvement is essential as more and more library-oriented outsiders mix with our present population, as our labor force and their families return from other States, and as our population ages. DEMAND FOR NEW MATERIALS It should be noted, too, that the impact of Federal workers in local areas, such as at our Strategic Air Command Base at Mountain Home, and at the Atomic Energy Center at Arco, is recognized by the Federal Government in the provision of school funds. Similarly an expanded program of Federal aid to libraries can help to provide the accelerated public library service which these In all our libraries, school, college and public, service to students is expanding because of the trend away from just a textbook to broad use of many library books, magazines, and newspapers. The impact of this is great in a city-in a small town it is likewise devastating. In our small independent libraries, there are never enough new books on the many subjects students are interested in today. In a town of almost 5,000 population I recently heard a student asking for a book on space and a 10-year-old book on flying saucers was the latest thing on the shelf. INADEQUACY OF FACILITIES Space for books and for readers is a critical problem with Idaho libraries every day. In the specific library just mentioned above, two chairs in a dark corner are reserved for adults; three and onehalf tables and 16 chairs are for students. Every other available foot of space is crammed with bookstacks and books. They need at least double the space which they now have. Many of Idaho's public libraries are in a room in a crowded city hall or a county court house. The building is the package which is the public's first image of the library. If the building is inaccessible and unattractive, many potential users may not even climb the steps. while others may look at the crowded interior and then leave in despair. In the past 10 years, five new public library buildings have been constructed in Idaho. Public interest in these libraries has increased, their income and their circulation have increased. A Federal matching program just for public library buildings, as in S. 580, could be as big an incentive to local bond issues as were the original Carnegie building grants half a century ago. Our largest libraries, in our proposed regional centers, are often located in Carnegie buildings, now much overcrowded and inadequate. They should be the first recipients of building funds, so that they will have room to be true regional centers. PERSONNEL SHORTAGES Personnel is one of the keys to all library progress. A good librarian can do wonders with a mediocre book collection, or a poor building, and can soon find ways to improve her total budget and make the library's usefulness known in the community. In Idaho, we have only seven public librarians who have a full year of professional library training. We have no trained public librarian in the 500 miles from Boise and Caldwell north to the Canadian border. Generally speaking, Idaho's young people do not see good school or public libraries, and therefore do not often consider librarianship as a career when they are in college. Idaho's colleges do not offer regular courses in library science, and our students must go out of the State for accredited training in librarianship. Most of our public librarians have no education beyond high school. To do a proper job, Idaho needs a minimum of 90 professionally trained librarians. We need loans, fellowships, and institutes to train our present library workers when possible and to train college graduates as professional librarians. At the present time there are no library science |