http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1467 Allerton Park Institute Proceedings (no. 13, 1966); Edited by Winifred Ladley http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1537 Federal Aid For Libraries - Some Common Sense About The Future Wagman, Frederick H. One of the aphorisms that has become part of our folk wisdom asserts that knowledge of the past is essential for an understanding of the present. Another, equally valid and equally bromidic, holds that anyone who would predict the future had better be perspicacious about the present. We seem to have taken the latter apothegm to heart since our society may be the most self-conscious and introspective in the history of civilization if one judges by the number of analyses of its present condition published each year. I shall not presume to essay yet another analysis of the current Zeitgeist; never - the less, since any viable social institution must reflect its time, it seems to me advisable to identify a few of the trends that are presently exerting a powerful influence on library theory and development and on the public attitude toward libraries. That I must refer to these trends separately and seriatim is a consequence of my being a product of the linear, rational tradition that evolved, Professor McLuhan tells us, from Mr. Gutenberg's invention. Obviously, however, they are all closely interrelated. First of all, we seem to be more aware than any previous society of the dominance of the principle of change in human affairs. So convinced are we of the need for rapid adaptation to change that the charge of resisting it immediately puts an organization or a profession on the defensive. On occasion, mere commonsense questioning of proposed adaptations to new conditions or of the efficacy of new procedures leads to the accusation of reactionary thinking, and any profession runs the risk of being downgraded by society if it relies for public approbation on its distinguished tradition of accomplishment more than on its demonstration of receptivity toward the new and modern, even when the new and modern are untested and unproven. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1536 The Role Of The American Library Association In Federal Legislation For Libraries Leigh, Carma Russell We who administer, implement, or are affected by the federal legislation for libraries enacted in the last ten years are inclined to assume that the federal government's relation to libraries began in 1956 with the passage of the first Library Services Act. Certainly, the impact of federal legislation on libraries has been more strongly felt in the last ten years than in any previous period. Yet a summary of the effects of the federal government through laws and services affecting libraries would have to go back much farther. True, the Constitution of the United States still has nothing whatever to say about libraries, and until 1956 there was nothing in federal statutes expressing concern with the need for adequate library services throughout the states or the intent of assisting the states to provide such services. Yet it must fairly be said that there have long been federal laws affecting library interests that were concerned with such matters as the free importation of books, the distribution of various kinds of government publications, free transportation of books and talking book machines for the blind, and reduced postal rates for books loaned by libraries. In addition to federal laws that provide for these, several federal government functions have long been of direct or indirect benefit to libraries, for example, a wide variety of bibliographic services, a system of interlibrary loans, supplying government publications in large amounts free or at low cost, a system of printed catalog card distribution, and the periodic collection of library statistics. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1535 Proposals And Programs-The Informal Aspects Crosland, Dorothy M. When Mrs. Ladley's letter came last winter inviting me to participate in this conference concerning federal legislation for libraries, I had just returned from Washington, which had been covered with a heavy snow. Her letter read: "We invite you to give one of the papers on Tuesday, November 8, on the art of getting to know one's way around in Washington." I laughed because "How does one get around in Washington when there is an unexpected snow storm?" I had no trouble when I visited a private donor, for a car was sent for me, but to get to government offices which spread from the City of Washington into Maryland and Virginia is not too easy. One must depend on the doorman at a hotel or stand near a building where a cab might discharge a passenger, or wait on a corner where traffic flows two ways and pray that an empty cab will stop. I must admit that even after many years and many visits to Washington my sense of direction is not good and I am dependent on a cab. I am quite sure I did not think clearly when I accepted the invitation to appear on this program and tell people how to get around in Washington. Some weeks later a more detailed letter came from Mrs. Ladley and I realized it did not matter transportation-wise how I got about in Washington; rather, it was how did I get into government offices, how did I meet the officials who might give me the information I was seeking. This paper has been a difficult one to write, for if I spoke frankly, it would be too personal. One does not mention the name of a friend who says: " You should know Mr. X. I shall call him or give you a note to him." Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1534 Implementing Programs Through Proposals Adkinson, Burton W. What some of you may be hoping for is a blueprint for getting federal support for library programs. I should warn you that there is no such blueprint, for the simple reason that there is no universal proposal. Every particular combination of proposer and federal agency represents a special case. So the best I can do is to sketch some general considerations that the library community might take into account in shaping programs and seeking federal support for them. Another difficulty springs from the fact that library support has no one comfortable home in the government structure. It cuts across the roles and missions of many federal agencies. Unless it specializes in some one field or function it does not correspond too closely to any one agency's interests. The National Library of Medicine interests itself in libraries or parts of them that serve medical research or medical education. The National Science Foundation has responsibilities to libraries that support scientific research or education in the sciences, and to libraries in general where they intersect the general process of disseminating scientific and technical information. And so on. So, besides being unable to give you a color - it-yourself proposal, I cannot give you a good road-map of the Washington library- support area. In particular, I shall not speak to the specific interests of the Office of Education, partly because the discussion of recent legislation that you are to hear will no doubt cover this topic. Some of you may ultimately get some guidance at the end of the year's deliberations of the National Library Commission that has recently been set up, but in the meantime it would be presumptous for me to pre-empt whatever government postures toward libraries, or vice-versa, the Commission may come up with. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1533 The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Governmental And Special Libraries Skipper, James E. It has become increasingly obvious that libraries today cannot provide adequate service under conditions of local self-sufficiency. A variety of programs are required on the national level which cannot be provided by individual libraries or combinations of libraries. Few libraries can justify or afford the massive resource development which has been a responsibility of such institutions as the Library of Congress, the National Agricultural Library and the National Library of Medicine. None can finance the very expensive and complex bibliographic services provided by these national libraries. And practically none of our non- governmental libraries are in a position to assume leadership in implementing national bibliographic programs in the years ahead. These are the general reasons why our governmental libraries and the attendant legislative authorization are so critically important to the entire scholarly community. It is not the purpose of this paper to consider the detailed development of our governmental libraries or library legislative history. It would be accurate to say that in the past this development has taken place under uncoordinated circumstances, frequently in response to ad hoc situations. There was certainly no grand design or master plan to shape the future. This does not imply that librarians were limited in their vision or lacked the capability for basic planning. It is more a reflection of the fact that, at the Federal level, there has not been sufficient political support to allow more than one step being taken at a time. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1532 The Impact Of Federal Legislation For Library Education Monroe, Margaret E. Almost all discussion of federal legislation for libraries ends, if indeed it does not begin, with the problem of support versus control. If support is desirable, is control inevitable ? Library education has long taken for granted the control which state legislation requiring certification of librarians may impose on the curriculum. As a matter of fact, library educators have frequently been the proposers of such legislation, thus achieving control on their own terms. When professional vision outruns the legislators' insight and is persuasive then the profession is able to prescribe the control which society exercises over the individual librarian. In the academic world of library education, the yang and yin relationship of support and control exists within the context of the scholar's leadership, with the faculty exercising its judgment to use available support to the best advantage of the students, within the limits hopefully, the quite broad limits established by the institution and by society. Ideally, legislation for library education should enable the exercise of the best faculty judgment within the context of society's need and the legislative intent. But faculty judgment varies in competence. Legislation, then, must attempt to embody support for, and control within, the best available faculty judgment. State legislation specifically for library education has tended to limit itself to identification of the curriculum required for proficiency in librarianship; it generally involves setting minimums, and therefore has not been able to embody necessarily the best faculty judgments on the optimum program of library education. On the other hand, federal legislation, which has only begun to be directed toward library education, has tended to look toward optimums; the National Defense Education Act, for example, looks toward the best possible education for school librarians but allows faculty judgment to be determinative as to means. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1531 The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Academic Libraries Low, Edmon Federal aid to libraries is a fairly recent phenomenon in the library field. Librarians began their first serious bid for some funds to help extend library services to rural areas just after World War II and, after about a decade of effort, succeeded in getting the first Library Services Act in 1956 which thus became the first of a considerable body of federal legislation dealing with libraries of various kinds. As I try to describe the impact of the various bills on a particular type of library in this instance, the academic library an important consideration must be kept in mind; namely, that a bill for one area which paves the way for or influences the action on a subsequent bill relating to another area provides an impact on this second area which is just as vital and real as if the bill had been originally designed for that area. This certainly is the case with the Library Services Act. Then few seemed really interested in libraries: no administration would put the item in its budget, sponsors had to be searched out and persuaded, and even many of our friends were hesitant to come out and vote for libraries, partly because many still did not realize what books and libraries could do and what they could mean to people. Apparently almost no one at that time anticipated how popular library legislation would become, and it was not until about five years ago, when the extension of the Library Services Act was voted out of the House Rules Committee by the most overwhelming vote ever given such a measure in the House, that people in and out of Congress, including the Administration, suddenly realized it was a popular thing to support libraries. From there on, library bills have multiplied and have been Administration bills, and the question has been not whether or not to support, but how much and how wide the application will be. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1530 The Impact Of Federal Legislation On School Libraries Bomar, Cora Paul Not too many years ago a dream was born in the Hotel Congressional in Washington when the ALA Committee on Legislation invited a few public, school, and college librarians, and consultants from the Library Services Branch of the U. S. Office of Education, to meet with the Committee to discuss the Nation's library needs and how the Federal government might help the states meet these needs. This unpublicized informal conference fashioned a dream that was somewhat revolutionary. The group established the concept that the Federal government did have a responsibility that went beyond the limited Library Service Act which at that time provided not more than $7 million for rural public library service. The committee on school libraries was the bravest of the sub- committees for it proposed a Federal program for school libraries calling for an appropriation of $40 million annually, which was far greater than the $7 million authorized for LSA. And this was asking for the moon ! It planted the seed that flowered in 1965. From this brave assertion that the Federal government's share in the support of school libraries should be at least $40 million annually, this past fiscal year over $250 million of Federal funds were committed for printed and audiovisual school library resources alone, according to estimates made by the U. S. Office of Education. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1529 The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Public Libraries Kee, S. Janice The Problems In studying the origin of the word, "impact," and successive definitions from Oxford to Webster, I found that it was first used in the sense of binding; later in the more forceful sense of striking or hitting. Webster defines it in terms of contemporary usage as follows: "force of impression of one thing on another, concentrated force producing change, an especially forceful effect forcing change." This led me to another technical question. Are we using the word impact in this conference in terms of what it denotes or connotes? In other words, am I to consider the more specific changes or marks of library progress which might be attributed to federal legislation? Or, am I to attempt to point out the forces which are not so clearly denoted but which may be associated with recent federal legislation? One might ask if there is a distinction between the changes in public libraries which have been produced and those which are being forced by federal legislation. This is a fascinating question, and perhaps a related one is whether we can assume that all the social and economic forces in modern society which affect library development can be analyzed, and that the degree to which federal legislation produces change can be determined. And finally, I have been greatly troubled by the question of whether it is possible to determine the effect of federal legislation on one single type of library without the careful consideration of the interdependence of all libraries. These questions, and perhaps others of equal or more importance, suggest the complexity of the topic assignment. It is immediately obvious that this paper will raise more questions than it answers, and this may be its one useful purpose. It is based on a review of the literature, which is scarce or generally of little relevance, and two opinion surveys, which will be explained as the results are reported. An effort has been made to approach the subject in terms of the forces of federal legislation as they have hit or struck public libraries, as distinguished from a discussion of what has happened as a result of the collisions. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1528 The Federal Government As A Partner Bentley, Orville G. As a nation, we are philosophically and pragmatically committed to the proposition that economic and social progress will be sought through the development of scientific knowledge which in turn provides the lifeblood for new and more sophisticated technological progress. This commitment touches every facet of our life, from leisure time through the working day, with obvious implications interwoven through business, commerce, government, national defense, and the nation's international posture. The ramifications of this national moire are many in terms of physical comfort to people, changes in living standards, the use and development of resources, and in the value judgments held by people for a philosophy of progress through scientific change, vis-a-vis a society where maintaining the cultural and social status quo is a highly valued objective. The spin-off from the national scientific establishment began to gain momentum during and immediately following World War II. In World War I Germany had shown the world that science was a defense asset. I need only cite their near monopoly on the dye industry won through German scientific prowess in the field of organic chemistry. A new science of biochemistry and its application in fermentation processes had given Germany a new source of precursors in the production of explosives. By World War II the armaments of the leading powers had incorporated new sensing devices and new and more powerful weapons, and had begun to utilize computerized systems to replace manpower in conducting warfare. Federal aid to libraries --United States Sat, 01 Jan 1966 00:00:00 GMT