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[Reprint from December 1962 Health, Education, and Welfare Indicators]

EXHIBIT 13

LIBRARY SERVICES

1

(By Wilbur J. Cohen 1 and John G. Lorenz)

The Nation's investment in libraries is a most direct and effective investment in our vital intellectual resources. The public library, for example, has served as both school and college for millions of Ameri cans. Increasingly, the well-stocked library is a source of books and materials required to keep abreast of technological and professional advances in a wide range of essential occupations. Good, modern public libraries play an important role in the whole spectrum of adult and continuing education, with tangible benefits to business, industry. and the professions.

Our major library needs today are not limited to rural areas. About 128 million of our people have inadequate library services or none all, and approximately half of these are in urban areas. Nor are needs limited to public libraries. About two-thirds of all the elementary schools in the country are without libraries, and many college libraries are inadequate. Such inadequate school and college libraries place additional, and often very severe, burdens on the public libraries.

Major factors influencing the development of libraries in general in the 1960's are: (1) increased demands for library services related to population and economic growth, (2) shortages of library manpower. (3) the construction and equipping of physical facilities, and (4) the increasing volume and cost of library materials.

POPULATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

The 69 million children born since World War II (1946-62)-more than one-third of the total population at present-create needs for preschool, school, and college-related reading materials and libraries. The greater part of postwar babies are now in elementary and secondary schools and about 1965 will begin to reach college age.

The population of the United States-187 million in 1962 and grow. ing by 3 million persons each year-may reach a level of 250 million by 1980. More than three-fourths of our population may then live in urban areas-as many as there are in the entire United States today. According to the trend projections of the Office of Education, enrollment in the elementary and secondary schools may increase over 23 million, or 55 percent, between 1960 and 1980. By the fall of 1975, as many as 8.6 million persons or half of the persons of college agemay be college students.

1 Mr. Cohen is Assistant Secretary for Legislation, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Mr. Lorenz is Director, Library Services Branch, U.S. Office of Education. Data are based on publicstions and studies of the Library Services Branch including: "The Cost of Library Materials: Price Trends of Publications;" "State Plans Under the Library Services Act" with supplements; and reports on public libraries, public school libraries, and college and university libraries. Library standards are those of the

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Population Trends-Prologue to Library Development

Population by Age, 1950-1980

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Source: Hauser and Taitel, "Future of Library Service: Demographic Aspects and Implications," Library Trends, July 1961, University of Illinois Graduate School of Library Science. Projections based upon U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series

The postwar children will also become the Nation's workers in the next few years. The labor force is expected to increase from 74 million in 1961, to 80 million in 1965, and 95 million in 1975. To remain competitive in domestic and world markets, the Nation's industrial plant is geared to rapid evolution in its processes and procedures. The demands for research, and the allocations of personnel and ex penditures for research, will rise accordingly. These developments underscore the needs for expanding employment opportunities and for raising the level of skills of the labor force through training and retraining.

The already substantial contribution of libraries to the research effort will be enhanced through electronic data processing in retriev ing stored information rapidly. Such experimentation is now under way at Western Reserve University in the field of educational research

But more basically, libraries complement each level of the educa tional and training process. Libraries can also supply the cultural materials to make meaningful the increased leisure time that is expected. No one type of library has the sole responsibility for contributing to the broad objective of producing mature citizens, capable of acquiring and applying knowledge in the workaday world of science, business, industry, and government, in family living, and in other aspects of human endeavor. Good libraries for people of all ages and all levels of educational attainment are essential to reach this objective.

LIBRARY MANPOWER AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Books and buildings alone do not make a library. Men and women of high professional ability are required, with sufficient supporting staff, to plan and carry out library development and services. The lack of adequately trained professional library staff is critical. Administrators of every type of library are concerned with professional vacancies-numbering more than 4,500 at present-and with the general lack of qualified staff to advance library service to at least minimum standards.

There are now about 59,000 professional librarians serving in various types of libraries, including an estimated 10,000 in special libraries. According to American Library Association standards, about 103,000 addtional professional librarians are needed for minimal service in public, school, and college libraries.

Professional library personnel requirements

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Needed according to Ameri can Library Association

103.4

8.5

92.4

2.5

The number of men in library work has been increasing during the past 5 years, but their proportion of the total number entering the profession has remained at one-fourth.

There are two major categories of professional library education institutions offering degree programs: those accredited by the American Library Association (31) and others (68).

The ALA-accredited institutions offer a 5th-year program normally leading to a master's degree in library science and most also offer training below the master's level. Seven have doctoral programs. The non-ALA-accredited institutions may offer a bachelor's program e with a major in library science, a master's program, or both. While the ALA-accredited institutions provide training for various types of libraries, the others generally train only for school and public librarianship.

There has been a definite upward trend in librarian education during the past decade, with the total number of degree-granting institutions increasing 40 percent from 70 in 1951-52 to 98 in 1960-61. The number of degrees granted has increased at a similar rate, from 1,721 to 2,371, or 38 percent. Of the degrees awarded in 1960-61, the ALA-accredited institutions awarded 1,675, or 71 percent.

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Although ALA standards of accreditation for the 5th year master's program were approved July 13, 1951, evaluation and approval of all the 30 schools included above was not completed until 1958-59. 131 schools as of 1961-62.

PHYSICAL FACILITIES

The construction and maintenance of library facilities represent an important cost item in the provision of adequate library services. The era of Carnegie grants for public library buildings has long since passed. In March 1962, the U.S. Office of Education estimated the median age of public library buildings at 53 years of age. Thirty percent were probably built before 1910; 85 percent before 1920; and only 4 percent in the last 20 years. The Library Services Act, passed by Congress in 1956 in order to stimulate rural library development, does not provide funds for the purchase or erection of build

The Office of Education projects the need for the construction of public libraries during this decade and the next at $528 million:

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Although there are no current statistics on school library facilities and equipment, many schools have inadequate, crowded, and poorly equipped libraries. Many school buildings have no space for school libraries. Limited data on college and university construction needs indicate that the $300 million planned for library buildings for the period 1956-70 represents only about half the actual need.

LIBRARY MATERIALS

The collection, organization, and maintenance of library materials are activities common to all types of libraries. The increasing number of book tiltes appearing each year is indicative of the "information explosion" and of the expanding universe of books to be considered for purchase by librarians. As many book titles were produced worldwide during the first 60 years of this century as were produced between the years 1450 and 1900. Within the United States the num ber of titles published rose from 10,027 in 1930 to 18,060 in 1961.

The cost of books and other printed materials remains one of the principal expenditures of U.S. libraries. In 1960 libraries spent a estimated $125 million for books, periodicals, and other library materials.

Prices of library materials are rising more rapidly than consumer prices generally. The cost of the average U.S. book rose 62 percent

Index: 1947-49-100 Prices of Library Materials and of Consumer Goods and Services

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Index: 1947-49-100

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