PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES Existing Library Service and American Library Association Standards three professional librarians 49% have less than Percent of Institutions Below American Library Association Standards of Source: These percentages are smooed based on 1960-61 data reported by 1,666 bas sind SPECIAL LIBRARIES A "special library" serves a business or industrial firm, a bank, a governmental agency, a newspaper, magazine, or advertising agency, or any other organization whose activity creates a need for library service within a particular field or discipline. Highly specialized departments in public and in college or university libraries are occasionally considered as special libraries. It is estimated that there are 10,000 persons employed in 7,500 special libraries in the following types of organizations: Inclusion of the special library departments of some 250 public and 2,200 college and university libraries would increase the total to 10,000 special libraries with some 15,000 employees. In addition, a Federal survey reveals that an estimated 850 persons are employed in approximately 90 technical information centers. LIBRARY SERVICES ACT The collection and publication by the Federal Government of statistics relating to public libraries dates back to the 1860's and the inception of the U.S. Office of Education. The Federal legislative role in stimulating State and local action in the library field was recognized in 1956 with the passage of the Library Services Act (Public Law 84-597). Extended by Public Law 86-679 until June 30, 1966, the act authorizes $7.5 million annually for grants to the States for the extension of public library services to rural areas (places of under 10,000 population). Under the stimulus of the Library Services Act: Thirty-six million rural residents have new or improved More than 8 million books and other informational materials have been added, and over 300 bookmobiles have been purchased The States have greatly expanded their library extension serv ices and have added 115 field consultants to assist local libraries State appropriations for rural public library services increased by $6 million, or 92 percent, and local appropriations increased by $22 million, or 71 percent, between 1956 and 1962. State appropriations for all public library services doubled from $12 to $25 million. Funds available for public libraries in rural areas NOTE.-Data, supplied by States and outlying parts, may not add to totals due to rounding. The many positive achievements of the program should not over shadow the magnitude of the job yet to be done. Preliminary data for 1961 indicate that 16.6 million rural residents had no legal access to local public library service and that an additional 49 million rura The Library Services Act Expenditures under State plans by categories, fiscal years 1957-61 Millions of dollars 10 5 4 3 2 1 people had only inadequate service. Moreover, urban libraries in communities of over 10,000 population are ineligible for benefits under the act and have little financial incentive to participate in cooperative programs for extending service to adjacent areas. Expenditures under State plans for library services 1 ! Provisional data from reports filed with the U.S. Office of Education by participating States and outlying parts under the Library Services Act. Data may not add to totals due to rounding. EXHIBIT 14 STATEMENT OF FRANCIS KEPPEL, U.S. COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, ON "TITLE VI-C: PUBLIC COMMUNITY LIBRARIES," IN H.R. 3000, NATIONAL EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1963, BEFORE THE SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, APRIL 9, 1963 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am honored to appear before the Select Subcommittee on Education in support of title VI, part C, the public community library provisions of the National Education Improvement Act of 1963. The public library is a basic educational resource. The widespread recognition that education is a lifelong process has dramatized the importance of having good public library service readily available to every citizen. Good libraries are as important as the purposes they serve and without them we cannot hope to achieve the social, educational, cultural, and economic goals of the individual and of society. Our national investment in good public library service is a direct and highly productive contribution to the intellectual life of our Nation. Today's library is not only a place of study and research. It is also a busy marketplace of ideas, a reservoir of practical, factual information, and a source of continuing cultural and social enlighten ment. Businessmen are learning that libraries have a real dollars and cents value to them. Manufacturers' departments need current data on technological developments; researchers need special indexes, monographs, and statistics; and sales personnel need data on markets, buyer motivation, and sales techniques. Mr. Arthur S. Owens, the city manager of Roanoke, Va., underscored this economic value of good libraries by saying: It is no secret that the outstanding public library programs of New Orleans La., and Charlotte, N.C., to cite only two, have played important roles in attracting industry to these growing cities. The increased national concern with manpower training and retraining has already made new demands on public libraries. In several economically depressed areas, a substantial contribution to job retraining programs is being made by public libraries which are participating in the present Libraries Services Act. Public libaries have many uses: Children use public library resources to stretch their imaginations and to build good reading habits which will benefit them throughout life. Students of all ages engaged in both formal and informal educational activities pursue independent study, each at his own pace and in his own way. Housewives and mothers rely on the library for the practical information they need as consumers to guide the growth of a happy, healthy family. The increasing numbers of the aged and the retired are continuing to make their personal lives rich and productive through the pleasures of reading. These and other demands on public libraries demonstrate that a good library is more than just a collection of books. It is, in fact, s part of a complex communications system which should bring to gether the library user and the material or information he needs. The library users of today and tomorrow will be more sophisticated, more highly educated, and more numerous than their counterparts of yes terday. Their library needs will be more complex, greater in quantity. and more expensive to meet. To do this job will require a working partnership among all levels of government, a partnership which has had a highly promising beginning in the present Library Services Act. That program, Public Law 597, 84th Congress, 2d session, as amended, now in its seventh year of operation. It is having real success in extending and improving our rural public libraries. O special significance is the fact that State appropriations for public library services have increased 92 percent and funds from local government for the same purpose have risen 71 percent since the act went into effect. These funds have provided 38 million rural residents with new or improved public library facilities. More than 350 bookmobiles have been placed in operation under this program and over 10 million books and other informational materials have been purchased for use by rural readers. The leadership capacity of State library agencies has been increased. More than 130 professional public library field consultants have been employed by the States to carry out State plan projects. Seven States have begun or greatly expanded programs of cash grants-in-aid to local libraries. Although we can be proud of these accomplishments, much remins to be done. In 1961, 18 million persons (16.5 million rural, 1.5 million urban) still had no readily accessible public library service available to them. Reports from State libraries also indicate that 110 million |