people need the stimulation provided by up-to-date technical literature to increase their quest for the scientific knowledge so urgently needed in many careers today. Adults need libraries in order to continue the educational process, all too often dropped with the conclusion of formal schooling. A circulating source of books, magazines, and newspapers spurs communities to keener awareness of the responsibilities of citizenship and a broader interest in and understanding of world events, the need for which is greater now than it has ever been in our history. We are living in a world which challenges our ability to produce citizens who can grapple with the gravest problems the world has ever known. We believe the library services bill, S. 205, is an excellent one and will meet the most pressing need for extension of library services to rural areas. We further believe that the Federal Government should offer leadership in service and in grants in order to stimulate interest and action within the States. The record has proven that certain grants have done just that; for instance, in the field of crippled children's grants over a period of 15 years, the Federal Government's share decreased from 40 percent to 26 percent, and the States now appropriate 3 times as much. This is a good example of the use of Federal grants to stimulate State programs which we applaud. The rights of the States in S. 205 are fully protected within their own library plan, and a definite limit to 5 years removes the danger of this becoming a permanent Federal responsibility. The General Federation of Women's Clubs derives its legislative policy from resolutions passed by the delegate body at annual conventions. Our resolution urges State federations and member clubs to continue to support existing libraries and to encourage extension of library service and use. We urge this committee to act favorably and promptly on S. 205, and we pledge to you the support of our 15,600 clubs in every State and the District of Columbia in encouraging interest in, and wise use of, the appropriations. I would like to add that the theme of our new administration is "Knowledge is power," and it is very fitting that this first statement of a new administration should be in support of the library services bill. Thank you very much. Senator MURRAY. Thank you very much for your concise but very effective statement. I think it will be very helpful to us. Senator HILL. I want to join you, Mr. Chairman, in that; it is precise but very effective. In fact, if I may say this, this has been a very high order of testimony, starting with Mr. Richards and coming on down through all the witnesses. The testimoy has been very able and very fine, splendid presentations of the case for this bill. Senator MURRAY. If you cannot win with this kind of backing, it will be amazing. Senator HILL. That is right. And I think, in this connection, while we are speaking of the very exceptional and fine presentations this morning, we should also express our appreciation to Julia Bennett of the Washington office of the American Library Association, who has worked so long and so hard. and so wonderfully on behalf of the passage of this bill. Senator MURRAY. That concludes the testimony this morning. We thank you. (Typical statements and communications addressed to the committee follow :) STATE LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS HUNTINGDON COLLEGE LIBRARY, Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, Chairman, Education Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: We are so glad that you are spearheading our library services bill. As past president of the Alabama Library Association, I wish to make the following statement to be filed with the Senate Committee for the hearings on the scheduled bill: Under the present conditions, Alabama would be eligible for its maximum allotment of the basic $40,000 plus the matching amount of $169,000, for a total of $209,000 for each of the 5 years. In Alabama, we are rural and very poor. We have at present only 5 regional (2 counties each) libraries with bookmobiles. We have 11 counties without any service and 34 with very inadequate service. Only 11 county libraries have bookmobiles, and 7 county libraries have none at all. We have 28 counties with town libraries only and no countywide service. In all this broad expanse of 67 counties and a population of 3,061,000 people there are 25 bookmobiles of which 22 belong to county or regional libraries and 3 belong to the public library service division. I think that our Senators, one of which is responsible for introducing this bill, realizes in what sad shape our people are for library service. It is little wonder that Alabama ranks low in the educational standard. We, the members of the Alabama Library Association, and we are over 500 strong now, will appreciate any assistance that we can render our people from the passage of the library services bill. We thank you for your interest and we will be delighted to help in any way possible. Yours very sincerely, WILLA M. ROYSWORTH, Past President, Alabama Library Association. UNITED STATES SENATE, February 25, 1955. Hon. LISTER HILL, Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I enclose herewith a copy of a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas, and I would appreciate your including it in the hearings on the library services legislation. With cordial regards, I am Sincerely, J. W. FULBRIGHT. SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8 (RIALES AND MILUM) Whereas there is an immediate need for the extension of public library service to the rural areas of the State of Arkansas; and Whereas the State of Arkansas does not at present have sufficient funds with which to supply public library service to the rural areas of this State; and Whereas there is now pending in the Congress of the United States Senate bill 205 which authorized the appropriation of funds to the various States for use in extending public library services to rural areas without such services, or with inadequate services; and Whereas Senate bill 205 would permit extension of public library services to the rural areas of the State of Arkansas: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate of the 60th General Assembly of the State of Arkansas, the House of Representatives concurring therein, does by this resolution endorse said Senate bill 205, and urge that immediate hearings be held by Congress toward its passage, and further urge the immediate passage of the same; be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of State is hereby instructed to transmit within 5 days after receipt thereof, a certified copy of this resolution to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate of the 84th Congress, and to each Member of the Congress from the State of Arkansas. STATEMENT OF JAMES G. HODGSON, PRESIDENT, COLORADO LIBRARY ASSOCIATION RURAL LIBRARY CONDITIONS IN COLORADO Rural people are not different. They are simply separated by distances from other people. Nowhere is this more strikingly true than in Colorado where the bulk of the heavily populated areas are in a long line just east of the high mountains that divide the flat plains of the eastern part of the State from the deep river valleys of the West. Sparsely settled plains and mountain valleys, between high divides, all in the same State, make for very unique library problems. It also convinces the people that they have problems which are different and that any kind of library service that may be talked about as successful in other parts of the United States will not work in Colorado because "conditions are different." Actually there is just enough truth to that belief to make it necessary for Colorado to have demonstrations of types of library service best suited to its varying needs right within the State if other sections are to see what can be done and work out their own local library systems. One of the greatest values of a concerted nationwide series of demonstrations of library service to rural areas is its cumulative effect on rural areas as a whole. The mere existence of a great many different demonstration projects in all the separate States will have a greater impact on thinking in rural areas about the benefits of library service than that which could come from any single demonstration no matter how well carried out. The impact of good library service in parts of any single State, reinforced by the reports carried in magazines and newspapers of what is being done in other States, would have an intensifying effect in opening the eyes of rural people to the fact that they too can have the library advantages of the metropolitan areas if they but want to go after them. Only through such a plan as the library services bill can such a multiplying of results be obtained. Colorado is not alone in feeling that its conditions are unique and that types of service found successful in other places are not necessarily adequate guides to what is needed in its own situations. But Colorado is also typical in that if demonstrations, which will work in Colorado, are also a part of a national movement, then the good results from other States will add to the impact which demonstrations within the State will make. It is for this reason, in addition to the great good that will come to the rural people of Colorado directly, that the Colorado Library Association has long been on record as favoring the national and concerted approach which the library services bill provides. DELAWARE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, April 20, 1956. Hon. LISTER HILL, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR: At the annual business meeting of the Delaware Library Association, held March 24, 1956, in Georgetown, the following resolution was voted upon and approved: "Whereas libraries are vital agencies for insuring education and information for the people of Delaware and of the United States; and "Whereas present libraries are inadequate to meet the need for educational and informational services, particularly in rural areas; and "Whereas the library services bill, H. R. 2840 and S. 205, provides a means of extending library services to rural areas of the country: Therefore "Resolved, That the Delaware Library Association supports the purposes and provisions of the library services bill and urges its passage by Congress. Sincerely yours, HELEN R. BELKNAP, Secretary. FLORIDA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Tallahassee, Fla., May 21, 1956. Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, Chairman, Education Subcommittee, Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: The Florida Library Association strongly endorses the library services bill, S. 205, on which your subcommittee will hold hearings this week. Approximately two-thirds of the rural population of Florida is now without access to any kind of library service. What service is available to our rural people is definitely substandard. In contrast, nine-tenths of the urban population has library service, and that service is generally good or superior in quality. We do not believe that rural and urban people are essentially different in their intellectual, educational, and recreational needs. Nor do we believe that persons should be penalized for living on the land. Yet it is a fact that unless rural people have assistance beyond the local level, they will never have adequate library facilities. The State of Florida does not at present give direct monetary aid in support of libraries in rural areas. Provision of such aid had been an objective of this association for the last 5 years, and we are confident that passage of the library services bill would be followed by the desired State legislation. We urge that Senate bill 205 be given favorable consideration as a means of encouraging the States to accept their responsibility for equalizing library opportunity. Respectfully, DOROTHY DODD, President. Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, Chairman, Education Subcommittee, GEORGIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: I am writing to you in behalf of the library services bill, S. 205. Library service throughout the Nation will be greatly strengthened by the passage of this bill. Nearly 27 million people in the United States are still not within the reach of a public library. These people are not concentrated in any one section of the country. Many of them are in your State and in mine. Many of the rural people migrate to city centers. Many boys and girls grow up in one State and move for one reason or another to other parts of the country to work and to rear their families. Thus the problem of reaching these people with library service becomes a nationwide one, the concern of all of us regardless of whether we live in the city or the country, in the East, the West, the North, or the South. It seems to me that it is just as important and necessary that the Federal Government assist the people in establishing library service as it is to assist in the building of highways and hospitals, and the furnishing of school lunches, vocation, health, and welfare programs. An informed and well-educated citizenry is essential in a democratic society. The public library is the people's university and through its facilities and services citizens can and will continue to learn how better to understand and cope with the problems of an ever-changing world. No other publicly supported institution can do for all the people of all ages the educational service that is rendered through public libraries. Inasmuch as the passage of this legislation means so much to the people of our country, I hope that you will do everything in your power to have it reported out of committee favorably. Yours respectfully, W. P. KELLAM, President, Georgia Library Association. BOISE, IDAHO, May 22, 1956. Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. The benefits of library services bill will be great boon to Idaho. Recent State legislation permits districts to organize and vote supporting levy but no State extension division exists, and only Federal money can enable us to stage demonstrations of serviceable and economical large units of library service to our rural population. Please incorporate above statement in record of hearings on library services bill, S. 205. IDAHO STATE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, IOWA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, May 20, 1956. Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, Chairman, Education Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: As president of the trustees' section of the public libraries' division of the American Library Association, and as president of the Iowa Library Association, I have had many opportunities to talk to men and women from all parts of the country in regard to existing library facilities, and the needs for future development in areas where there are no libraries at all. People everywhere are conscious of the need for books, magazines, and newspapers to keep them informed so they may vote intelligently. Children need books to help them with their schoolwork, young people need vocational information, businessmen require statistics, men and women of all ages need materials for continuing their education after formal schooling ends. Here in Iowa nearly 40 percent of the people have no library service of any kind, and many more Iowans have inadequate service. Many of our people live in small communities or in rural areas without easy access to a large city. Yet folk living in villages, small towns, and on the farms are entitled to the same educational and recreational advantages that city dwellers get from their well-developed library systems. Farmers today need up-to-date information on machinery and farm methods, on production, marketing, home management, and child guidance. But rural people cannot afford to buy expensive books (even if there were bookstores out in the country) for the use of only one family. If there was a county or regional library to lend them these vital books, the cost would then be spread over many families. The passage of the library services' bill will enable people in rural areas to experience the advantages of libraries and encourage them to continue the service with local and State funds after the 5-year period. If Iowa receives grants under this bill, bookmobiles, stocked with books and manned by personnel who know both books and library problems, can be sent to rural Iowa communities; and one or more regional libraries can be established to serve as an example and inspiration to the remainder of the State. We hope that you will see this bill is given favorable consideration in your committee and is given prompt and favorable action in the Senate. Sincerely yours, FRANK MILLIGAN, President. The library services bill, if passed, would bring library service to over 700,000 Kansans who do not have access to a library. Demonstration libraries with branches, bookmobiles, and deposit stations could give these people a chance to read so they might be better informed citizens. A well-informed citizenry would be better for the individual, the town, the State, and the country. Once libraries are established and people can actually see them functioning as educational institutions, citizens will demand and be willing to pay for better library service. KANSAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, President. |