The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Governmental And Special Libraries

Abstract

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.