LOUISIANA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, Chairman, Education Subcommittee, Lake Charles, La., May 22, 1956. Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: The Louisiana Library Association believes that the public library, adequately supported and efficiently administered, is essential to the education and recreational development of a community. In Louisiana today there are 400,000 citizens who live in rural areas without public library service; in the whole Nation there are 27 million persons with no access to a public library. The library services bill (S. 205) which, we understand, your subcommittee will consider May 23, would be particularly effective in stimulating State and local governments to support adequately public libraries for their own people. This bill would accelerate library development nationally in a way that could never be done without Federal assistance. The funds which would be made available to Louisiana under this act would make it possible to establish a parish (county) library in each of the 21 parishes now without library service. In other words, as a result of this legislation all Louisiana's people would have access to public library service. Librarians and library-minded citizens throughout our State are vitally interested in the library services bill. We respectfully urge your favorable consideration of this very important and worthwhile legislation. Sincerely yours, RUTH CLARK REEDY, President. Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, MAINE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Chairman, Education Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: Rural areas of the State of Maine are very badly in need of help, of the nature proposed in the library services bill, S. 205. As you know, Maine is large in area (32,562 square miles), but relatively light in population (29.4 persons per square mile). Its population of 913,774 (1950) ranks 38th of the 48 States. Maine is still 59 percent rural, and has only 13 towns or cities of over 10,000 people. Its 1953 per capita income of $1,369 makes it the 39th State in income, and Maine spends only $181 per pupil for education ($244 is the national average). Only 14 percent of Maine people over 25 years of age are high-school graduates. The median number of school years completed by our people is 10.2. Based on World War II Army rejections, the Maine illiteracy rate is 20 per 1,000, or the 35th of the 48 States in literacy. We need better libraries for better education. In this rural State 657,085 people have some sort of library service, but 253,371, or nearly one-third, have none. Public libraries have only 3.39 volumes per capita. State library aid in 1953-54 was only $12,724 (or 7.2 cents per capita). Most of our library facilities are inadequate. Library budgets for many towns are only $100-$200 per year. We thoroughly need and want the educational and cultural lift the Federal Aid to Libraries Act willing. Such a lift continued for the proposed 5 years will enable our people, both private citizens and legislators, to experience a more literate atmosphere. Even the most reluctant, the most niggardly, will see that library money is well spent. Better service will necessarily be continued in Maine after the termination of Federal aid, and for continued growth Maine needs firstrate educational facilities. Maine's problem is partly that of holdings its youth and attracting the better people from elsewhere. Good libraries will certainly help. Your cooperation and support of the library bill will be greatly appreciated. Yours sincerely, JAMES HUMPHRY III, President. Senator JAMES E. MURRAY, MASSACHUSETTS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, INC., Chairman, Education Subcommittee, Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: At its annual meeting in Amherst on May 3, 1956, the Massachusetts Library Association unanimously voted to support the library services bill, S. 205. I have been instructed to write to you to inform you of this action by the association and to ask your support of this measure. The members feel very strongly that this bill will do much to equalize public library service throughout the country by bringing service to those who are now deprived of it. It should also encourage individual States and give them the necessary financial assistance to set up demonstration areas which will bring the need for library service into proper focus. Any assistance you can give will be most appreciated. RICHARD J. SULLIVAN, President. MASSACHUSETTS AND THE FEDERAL LIBRARY SERVICES BILL Public-library service in Massachusetts needs the improvement which could be made possible with the passage of the Federal library-services bill currently under consideration. There is a basic inequality in library service in Massachusetts because public libraries derive their chief financial support from local real-estate taxes. Eightyeight percent of the cities and towns of Massachusetts are rural in that they have a population of under 10,000 people. Over 90 percent of the State's public libraries are now giving inadequate library service according to nationally accepted library standards. Thus, it is unrealistic to take the State's seemingly fine overall library service per capita support of $2.25 without considering its application to the numerous small towns in Massachusetts. For example, the inadequacy of $2.25 per capita library support is obvious when applied to any one of the State's 98 towns which vary in population from 56 to 1,999. The Massachusetts Division of Library Extension has attempted to equalize library service by developing State regional library-service centers. At present only 3 areas, comprising a total of 95 cities and towns, are so served. While it is believed that Massachusetts can eventually provide adequate support for all its public libraries, the State as a whole-as well as its municipalities desperately needs now the helping hand which the Federal library services bill would provide. STATEMENT BY WILLIAM CHAIT, PRESIDENT, MICHIGAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, ON S. 205, LIBRARY SERVICES BILL The provision of library service for all the people of the State of Michigan is of grave concern to the members of the Michigan Library Association. Our members serve in all kinds of libraries and in all types of communities, both urban and rural. We are devoted to the principle that all of our people are entitled to access to tax-supported public libraries. We believe that our whole Nation sufiers when there are more than 20 million people in the United States, almost all of them in rural areas, who do not have library service. Our whole Nation is poorer because industrially wealthy Michigan has 800,000 people who do not have public libraries which they can call their own. Perhaps Michigan is financially able to take care of its own needs but the fact remains that we have not done so and our progress has been slow. However, we have taken some steps which may show how a program sponsored by the Federal Government can help improve the situation throughout the Nation. About 4 years ago the Michigan State Board for Libraries established the first regional library in the State by extending service from an existing county library to a neighboring county which did not have a library. State funds were used for this demontration which resulted, in April of 1955 in the people of these counties voting to set up the Iosco Arenac Regional Library supported by local taxes. At present, a similar demonstration, supported by State funds, is being carried on in a five-county region around Traverse City. We expect that this too will be locally supported after another year of State help. The experience of Michigan can be related to the national picture. When the Federal Government will make funds available to the States for the establishment of library service to rural areas, the people of these areas will realize what it means to have public libraries and will find the money to provide them for themselves. The only people who do not want to tax themselves for public libraries are those who have never had library service or who have had poor and inadequate service. Very few intelligent people who have experienced the opportunities of a good public library will ever again want to get along without library service. A 5-year program of stimulation by funds from the Federal Government may bring a great change in the educational and recreational lives of the people of rural America. In Michigan we are beginning to make plans on how we can make the best use of the funds we will get for the public library demonstration when the library services bill is enacted. We expect to continue all projects started under State funds as a State responsibility. Our aim shall be to reach people in rural areas who have no public libraries or who have inadequate library service. The plan may include extension of services to rural areas from larger centers. We expect to encourage local responsibility by creating a local advisory committee and setting up the service at a level which can be continued on a permanent basis with local funds. Local support for each project should begin at the earliest possible time and be increased annually until it is self-supporting. Our experience has been that administrative, capital, and operating costs for the establishment of a regional library are such that we could hope to serve about 50,000 people a year with the funds available. This, added to the existing State program, would result in a significant decrease in the number of Michigan residents who do not have free access to books. It has been said that a person who can read and doesn't is no better off than a person who cannot read. We are proud of our high rate of literacy in this country, but we must recognize that this does not result in any great benefit to us unless we make reading materials available to our literate population. Rural families should have the same access as urban residents to books, newspapers, magazines, audiovisual materials, and other sources of information which the large city library systems now provide for their patrons. Our American publicschool system has made education available to most of the people in the Nation on an equal basis, but the opportunities to continue this education after school days or to supplement it while in school is not now available to people living in many rural areas in all parts of the Nation. S. 205 offers us a great opportunity to help bring library service to residents of rural America. Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, MINNESOTA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: On behalf of the Minnesota Library Association, may I urge your favorable consideration of the library services bill, S. 205. Minnesota is interested in the availability of Federal funds for development of public library service because approximately two-thirds of its citizens are served, if at all, by small libraries substandard in budget, staff and books with no possibility of meeting even minimum standards of service. The funds provided under the library services bill would make possible the immediate development of a regional library center, giving service to a six-county area in the west central part of the State where full library service has never been developed. This project is aimed at showing what excellent public library service can be given in a rural regional area where the people are now providing book service in a larger town in the county but where, with the exception of one county, no funds are expended for rural service. Another reason for choosing this particular area is that once library service is established, the area could raise sufficient funds for the continuance of the service. The following testimony was given in behalf of the State-aid-for-libraries bill before a subcommittee of the Minnesota Legislature in the last session: "I grew up in a section of the State without benefit of public-library service. Three years ago my family moved to a southern Minnesota city where we discovered the undreamed riches of such service. My sister still lives in an unserved area and I want her to have the opportunity of the service of an adequate public library.” Sincerely yours, Mrs. J. R. SWEASY, President. MISSISSIPPI LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, May 19, 1956. The State of Mississippi needs the help that would be provided by the library services bill, S. 205. This request for financial aid in promoting libary service is based on the following statements: 1. There are 1.218,951 people in Mississippi without library service of any sort. 2. There are 272,439 people whose libraries are so inadequately supported that they cannot technically be called libraries. 3. The people of Mississippi have been trying to help themselves. In 1949 the total spent for public libraries was only $306,659.40; in 1954 the total spent was $672,483.69. By December 1955 that figure had risen to $768,246. 4. Eight years ago, the Mississippi Library Association, the library commission, the department of education, and the University of Mississippi, working together, formulated a sound plan for economical, practical library development throughout the State. Since that time these same agencies, with the help of other agencies and individual librarians, have been working to implement that plan. The library services bill would provide the necessary impetus to accelerate this program. 5. The personnel who would administer the funds provided by this bill, as well as other people concerned, are fully aware of the professional, educational, and social responsibility for the welfare of all of the people of the State. They would consider the handling of these funds as a sacred trust and would do their utmost to invest them wisely. 6. The terminal point of this legislation is well known. A pledge is made that sound building will be done so as to achieve lasting results. This aid will be considered as a boost in getting rural library service started where it is nonexistent and in improving what already exists. The case for Mississippi's need cannot be too strongly stated. The number of people without library service or with inadequate service shows the crying need for help. The fact that the people of the State are aware of the educational value of public libraries and of their financial inability to take the initial step in providing them and the fact that efforts have been made to extend library service on a very limited budget attest to the sincerity of this request. The passage of this bill is strongly urged. MARY LOVE, President. STATEMENT OF NELLIE M. HOMES, PRESIDENT MISSOURI LIBRARY ASSOCIATION The Missouri Library Association urges the approval and passage of the Federal library services bill, S. 205, as a means of extending the educational facilities of the State and Nation in making information available to citizens that they may be better equipped to meet the problems of an increasingly complex civilization. On its own initiative Missouri has done much toward extending library service to the citizens of Missouri through the Missouri State Library, the agency which would administer the funds in this State. The Missouri State Library has demonstrated a splendid initiative in this endeavor through its State library bookmobile demonstration service. The Federal library service bill would extend and stretch these funds and help speed up this service in Missouri. The Missouri Library Commission, the governing body of the State library has gone on record as favoring the bill. The Missouri State Library bookmobile demonstration funds would be considered matching funds for the Federal funds. While Missouri has about 25 percent of its population without library service many States have much higher percentages of population without service. Since one of the major lines of defense of a country is an informed citizenry, the Missouri Library Association deems this a vital measure. Hon. JAMES E. MURRAY, NEVADA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Chairman, Education Subcommittee of Senate Labor and Public Welfare DEAR SENATOR MURRAY: Nevada Library Association urges enactment of the library services bill now before the Education Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee. We are well aware of the need for this legislation on the national scene, but are acutely conscious of what it can do for our own State. Library service in Nevada has been retarded because of geographical and population problems peculiar to Western States. We have 17 counties, and of these only 2 have sufficient population and assessed valuation to maintain adequate local library service. At the present time all 16 of the libraries serving population units of 10,000 are unable to give the minimum services of a good library because of inadequate funds for books, staff, and other essentials. To meet these problems we have developed a comprehensive plan for library extension in the State. The main elements in this plan are the building of a strong book collection which will be available to all of the people of the State, the provision of direct service by bookmobile to those small communities with local libraries through the aid of a library consultant to work with local librarians. We know that our State plan is the most economical and most efficient way of giving library service in this State. That there is a need for these library services here no one can doubt after traveling over the State and talking with the people in communities with no libraries, with the rural teachers, and with the people and librarians in communities with undersupported libraries. Not long ago rural teachers, citizens, and librarians from several counties testified before a legislative hearing on the great need for library service in Nevada. Teachers told of the effects good books have had upon the reading ability and interest of their pupils. Books can go into the very isolated and remote areas of our State, and can bring a realization of modern America to children who have had no previous conception of it. Sad to say, comic books have penetrated these areas before good books. We have children in our State and Nation who are wholly conversant with the diets of ghouls and vampires, and with the activities of murderers and thieves, but have never held in their hands the good books many of us take for granted. At this same legislative hearing, another teacher from a northern mining town told of the people's interest in good books, and of their need for real library service. These people stress the need for the best in library service-informational and recreational books which are just not available on the newsstands in the quantity and range needed or afforded by the average citizen. Citizens living in small towns or rural areas remote from the population centers of our Nation have interests no narrower than those of city people. The library as a center for the processes of self education, dissemination of information, and recreation, is as important to the citizens of Beowawe, Nev., as it is to the people living in the heart of Minneapolis. Our Nation has pioneered in free public library service, and libraries are now considered an integral part of our public educational system. However, the larger number of our libraries are not equipped to carry on their work and nearly 30 million people remain without access to local public library service. It is true that State and local governments, making the use of results of research in library economy, can afford adequate public library service, yet they have not. The library services bill will demonstrate the value of this public service so forcibly that it will be continued without Federal support after the 5-year period. Sincerely yours, JOSEPH F. SHUBERT, President. |