(Explanatory note: Identical bills were introduced simultaneously: S. 507 in the Senate by Hon. Lister Hill of Alabama, and H.R. 3142 in the House of Representatives, by Hon. Oren Harris of Arkansas. Committee hearings will take place in the near future.) Submitted by F. Jay Pepper, for the Young Democratic Clubs of Nebraska, April 10, 1965. (Unanimously adopted by the National Executive Committee of the College Young Democratic Clubs of America, meeting at Kansas City, Mo., Apr. 10, 1965) Resolution: The Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965: Whereas (1) the unprecedented expansion of knowledge in the health sciences within the past two decades has brought about a massive growth in the quantity, and major changes in the nature of biomedical information, materials, and publications, and (2) there has not been a corresponding growth in the facilities and techniques necessary adequately to coordinate and disseminate among health scientists and practitioners the ever-increasing volume of knowledge and information which has been developed in the health science field, and (3) much of the value of the ever-increasing volume of knowledge and information which has been, and continues to be, developed in the health science field will be lost unless proper measures are taken in the immediate future to develop facilities and techniques necessary to collect, preserve, store, process, retrieve, and facilitate the dissemination and utilization of, such knowledge and information; and Whereas the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965 (S. 597 in the Senate and H.R. 3142 in the House of Representatives of the United States) is proposed and would provide the means, to (1) assist in the construction of new, and the renovation, expansion, or rehabilitation of existing medical library facilities, (2) assist in the training of medical librarians and other information specialists in the health sciences, (3) assist, through the awarding of special fellowships to physicians and scientists, in the compilation of existing, and the creation of additional, written matter which will facilitate the distribution and utilization of knowledge and information relating to scientific, social, and cultural advancements in sciences related to health, (4) assist in the conduct of research and investigations in the field of medical library science and related activities, and in the development of new techniques, systems, and equipment for processing, storing, retrieving, and distributing information in the sciences related to health, (5) assist in improving and expanding the basic resources of medical libraries and related facilities, (6) assist in the development of a national system of regional medical libraries each of which would have facilities of sufficient depth and scope to supplement the services of other medical libraries within the region served by it, and (7) provide financial support to biomedical scientific publications: Be it therefore Resolved, That the College Young Democratic Clubs of America hereby endorse the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, and commend it to our elected Representatives in the Congress for early passage. Explanatory note: Identical bills were introduced simultaneously: S. 597 in the Senate by Hon. Lister Hill of Alabama and H.R. 3142 in the House of Representatives by Hon. Oren Harris of Arkansas. Committee hearings will take place in the near future.) Submitted by F. Jay Pepper, for the Young Democratic Clubs of Nebraska, April 10, 1965. Senator LISTER HILL, MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL FACULTY OF THE STATE OF MARYLAND, Labor and Public Welfare Committee, DEAR SENATOR HILL: The medical and chirurgical faculty of the State of Maryland is interested in S. 597 and H.R. 3142, concerning the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965 which have been introduced in Congress by you and Mr. Harris. Because of our pride in our own medical library which is one of the oldest in the country, and our conviction that adequate and comprehensive libraries are an integral part of the medical profession, we commend your efforts in this area. If the medical faculty can be of any assistance to you in any way please do not hesitate to call on us. Sincerely, JOHN SARGEANT, Re S. 597. Hon. LISTER HILL, SOUTH JERSEY MEDICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION, U.S. Senate, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, MY DEAR SENATOR HILL: The Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, S. 597, should be enacted into law. I have read the bill carefully and can vouch for the great need of improving medical library facilities. As director of a private, nonprofit medical research institute, and as a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, I am constantly reminded of the need for improved library facilities and related services which are necessary to modern research and application of medical advances through the treatment of disease. I hope you will support this bill and I urge you to do so. With kind regards and appreciation for your understanding and continued support of efforts to improve our knowledge of the unsolved medical problems. Sincerely yours, LEWIS L. CORIELL, M.D., Director. THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, Albuquerque, N. Mex., February 4, 1965. Hon. LISTER HILL, U.S. Senate, New Senate Building, DEAR SENATOR HILL: I am writing concerning your recently introduced Senate bill, S. 597, to provide a program of grants to assist in meeting the need for adequate medical library facilities and services. I am strongly in favor of this bill. As a physician interested in medical education I believe that adequate library resources are of the utmost importance to the effective practice of medicine and to medical education. As dean of a developing medical school, I can state without equivocation that the development of the library is perhaps the most critical single factor in the establishment of a new school. I have every hope that S. 597 will receive early and favorable consideration. Yours sincerely, REGINALD H. FITZ, M.D., Dean. JOSIAH MACY, JR., FOUNDATION, Hon. LISTER HILL U.S. Senate, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR HILL: During the years since World War II there has been a remarkable growth in medical research in the United States. The medical schools have expanded the size of their classes and a number of new schools have been opened to meet the urgent need for more doctors. Unfortunately there has not been a comparable development in facilities and materials for medical libraries, so that now the need is urgent. Medical research and the education of physicians will benefit strikingly if library facilities are made available through the passage of S. 597, "to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a program of grants to assist in meeting the need for adequate medical library services and facilities." I hope that the Members of the Congress will assure speedy passage of this important measure. Very truly yours, JOHN Z. BOWERS, M.D., President. Hon. LISTER HILL, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, DEAR SENATOR HILL: The Medical Library Assistance Act (S. 597) introduced by you on January 19, deserves the full support of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Federal assistance for the construction and improvement of medical library facilities, grants for training personnel and conducting research in new library techniques, the development of regional medical libraries, and the support of biomedical scientific publications, is very much needed and should be provided. Sincerely, GEORGE E. ARMSTRONG, M.D., Director. Hon. LISTER HILL, THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, Chairman of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, DEAR SENATOR HILL: The New York Academy of Medicine would like to express its wholehearted support of your bill to provide a program of grants to assist in meeting the needs of adequate library services and facilities. The tremendous increase in scientific literature and the need to supply it quickly has brought incalculable difficulties to medical libraries throughout the country. The proposals made in the Senate bill 597, if implemented, would be of enormous significance in serving medicine and medical research. We urge that this bill be facilitated. Sincerely yours, HOWARD REID CRAIG, M.D., Director. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, Hon. LISTER HILL, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR HILL: I strongly recommend positive consideration of S. 597 and H.R. 3142, which provides much needed grants-in-aid for medical library services and facilities. The expansion of medical libraries and the services they provide are key to the progress and development of medical education in the United States. Rapidly expanding techniques and scientific knowledge make it mandatory that every effort be made to strengthen and support the orderly collection, documentation, and ready access of critical and essential data to students, teachers, scientists, and clinicians. I can think at this time of few items of legislation more important to the medical sciences and education than the passage of these bills. I know the faculty at New York University School of Medicine supports this contention. Sincerely yours, SAUL J. FARBER, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Acting Dean. ST. PETER'S HOSPITAL, Albany, N.Y., March 3, 1965. Hon. LISTER HILL, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR HILL: As administrator of St. Peter's Hospital, may I urge you to do all in your power to see that Senate bill S. 597, the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, be passed. It is of vital importance to all of us in the field of medicine. Respectfully, Sister MARY JANET, Administrator. ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, Hon. LISTER HILL, YESHIVA UNIVERSITY, New York, N.Y., February 3, 1965. Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, DEAR SENATOR HILL: Your bill S. 597, introduced in the Senate on January 19, 1965, as the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965, will receive our enthusiastic support. Federal funds are sorely needed to supplement the budgets of medical colleges for expansion of library facilities, acquisition of costly information-storage-andretrieval equipment, and training of library personnel in new techniques. Sincerely yours, MARCUS D. KOGEL, M.D., Dean. Hon. LISTER HILL, THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE OF NEW JERSEY, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR HILL: At a recent meeting of the board of trustees of the Academy of Medicine of New Jersey, it was moved and passed that the academy, on behalf of its library, urge the support of the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965. We are writing the Congressmen from New Jersey, requesting their support of this act. Respectfully, ARTHUR F. MANGELSDORFF, M.D., President. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York, N.Y., May 3, 1965. SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ADMINISTRATIVE MEDICINE, Hon. LISTER HILL, DEAR SENATOR HILL: As chairman of the Department of Preventive and Administrative Medicine of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, I would like to express my support of the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965 (S. 597 and H.R. 3142), introduced in the Senate by yourself and in the House by Congressman Oren Harris. Medical libraries today face a great responsibility in meeting the demands placed upon them by the community they serve. This community includes individuals involved in education, research, and patient care. The Medical Library Assistance Act provides much needed legislation and enables the Federal Government to play an important role in medical communication and in the improvement of the health of the Nation. May I respectfully urge that you lend your support to the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965. Sincerely yours, RAY E. TRUSSELL, M.D., M.P.H., Director. Hon. LISTER HILL, AMERICAN THORACIC SOCIETY, Chairman, Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, MY DEAR SENATOR HILL: The committee on medical education of the American Thoracic Society recognizes the importance of adequate medical library facilities and personnel in medical education and research and also recognizes the serious shortage of such facilities and personnel in the Nation at this time. The committee, therefore, at its meeting on February 9, 1965, recommended that the American Thoracic Society go on record as endorsing and supporting the bill introduced by you in the U.S. Senate, S. 597, to provide a remedy for this deficiency and recommended that notice of its action be forwarded to you, to the White House, and to other individuals as appropriate. The executive committee of the American Thoracic Society unanimously approved this action of its committee on medical education at its meeting on March 1, 1965. I wish, therefore on behalf of the American Thoracic Society to bring these actions to your attention and to express our earnest hope that your efforts to improve medical library services in the United States both qualitatively and quantitatively will meet with complete success. Sincerely yours, JAMES W. RALEIGH, M.D., Medical Director, American Thoracic Society. RESOLUTION ATS COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL EDUCATION, FEBRUARY 9, 1965 On motion it was voted that the committee on medical education of the American Thoracic Society approve the bills S. 597 and H.R. 3142 and recommend to the American Thoracic Society executive committee that they likewise endorse and support the bills, and that a copy of this endorsement be sent to Senator Lister Hill, Representative Oren Harris, and to other appropriate persons. Endorsed by ATS executive committee, March 1, 1965. Senator LISTER HILL, Congress of the United States, DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, DEAR SENATOR HILL: I would like to add a strong word of support for the bills pending before Congress, S. 597 and H.R. 3142, which are designed to provide support for medical libraries in universities throughout the Nation. I believe that this is an extremely important piece of legislation and it is quite necessary for the growth for medical schools throughout America. I would be most happy to testify in behalf of the legislation at the hearings for the bill. Yours truly, MORTON D. BOGDONOFF, M.D., President, American Federation for Clinical Research. Hon. LISTER HILL, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, DEAR SENATOR HILL: I am writing to indicate my hearty support of the bills which have been introduced into Congress for support of medical school libraries. These bills are S. 597 and H.R. 1342. The assistance which these bills will provide for medical education and medical care is urgently needed and its importance cannot be overstated. I hope the bills will have your support. Sincerely yours, ISAAC M. TAYLOR, M.D., Dean. Senator FRANK LAUSCHE, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, Cincinnati, Ohio, February 12, 1965. DEAR SENATOR LAUSCHE: As you are no doubt aware, Senator Lister Hill has recently introduced a bill, S. 597, the "Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965," designed to improve the medical library services of the Nation. On behalf of the |