7. TO FOSTER COOPERATION WITH SIMILAR NATIONAL AND

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS.

In order to tap the knowledge resources of the world, the national program should support such efforts as UNESCO'S UNISIST project and the activities of the International Standards Office, the International Federation of Library Associations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

SUPPORTING ROLES

In addition to the foregoing recommendations regarding the Federal role, key components of the proposed national program are the fifty state governments, the private sector and the Library of Congress.

ROLE OF THE STATE GOVERNMENTS.

The Federal Government would fund those aspects of the program that support interstate objectives, are of concern nationally and stimulate statewide library development; the state governments would assume the major share of the cost of coordinating and supporting the intrastate components of the network as well as part of the cost of participating in multistate planning. The states could participate most helpfully by enacting or updating library legislation and by establishing or strengthening state library agencies to administer state programs in the context of the national program.

Some of the advantages that would accrue to a state from its participation in a nationwide network are: (1) more information for its people than could possibly be amassed through its own captial investment; (2) reduced interstate telecomminication costs; (3) access to computer software, data bases and technical equipment; (4) compatibility with national programs; (5) matching funding for bringing local resources up to national standards; (6) matching funding to initiate network operations; and (7) the ability to invest mainly in immediate state and local needs while relying upon the national network for specialized materials and services.

ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

A great source of strength in American life lies in our pluralistic form of society in which both the public and private sectors have mutually supportive roles in the provision of national services. Each of the two sectors has its own important role, which should supplement and not compete with each other. The private sector should con

tinue to contribute its expertise in the creation, marketing and distribution of books, data and other resources as indispensable parts of the national program.

ROLE OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

Although not so designated by law, the Library of Congress is de facto the national library. The Commission believes that the Library of Congress should accept the following responsibilities in the national program: (1) expansion of its lending function to that of a national lending library of final resort; (2) expansion of coverage under the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging; (3) expansion of machine-readable cataloging (MARC); (4) the on-line distribution of the bibliographic data base to the various nodes of the national network; (5) an augmented reference service to support the national system for bibliographic service; (6) operation of a comprehensive national serials service; and (7) improved access to state and local publications.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION AND FUNDING.

Future legislation toward a national network will define the role of the Federal Government, the national libraries and the states; specify the functions to be performed centrally; establish the basis for Federal-state and state-local matching funding; designate an agency for implementing the policies of the National Commission; and safeguard privacy and the freedom of expression.

Categorical Federal assistance programs for libraries have thus far supported acquisition programs, new services, library training and research, building construction and aid to special groups. In 1973 the Administration recommended the substitution of revenue sharing for Federal grant programs for libraries. The preponderance of testimony to the Commission says that revenue sharing is not working for libraries. Recent actions by the Congress have restored appropriations for many of the categorical aid programs but, despite the proposed Library Partnership Act, the threat of their discontinuance persists.

An enlightened public policy of support for library and information activities and continuing financial assistance are considered vital to the national program. An infusion of Federal and state aid on a large scale is mandatory.

CONCLUSION

The Commission believes that the country's library and information services are not yet organized to meet the needs of the nation as a whole. The nation must

change directon by treating recorded knowledge as a na tional resource for the benefit of all people. The necessary changes in manpower development, in the applications of technology, in Federal and state investment policy, in cooperative, interjurisdictional arrangements and in styles of services will come about gradually; but the Commission is satisfied that the library and information communities are now prepared to work together toward common national goals. It urges the American people to give high priority to a new National Program for Library and Information Services.

SUPPORTING STUDIES

The Act that created the Commission says that the Commission shall: "... conduct studies, surveys, and analyses of the library and information needs of the nation, including the special library and information needs of rural areas and of economically, socially, or culturally deprived persons..."

ANALYSIS OF THE DENVER USER
NEEDS CONFERENCE FINDINGS

Preliminary studies by the Commission showed that very little information was available on the needs for library and information service. As a result, a small invitational working conference, sponsored by the Commission's Committee on Users' Needs, was held in Denver, Colorado, in May 1973 to begin developing user needs information responsive to the charge given to the Commission by the Congress.

The participants at the conference were selected as representatives of users and each participant was asked to provide an analysis and description, following uniform guidelines, of the needs of the group that he or she represented. After two days of presentations, questions, and other interchange, the participants were asked to review and recast their papers, incorporating new information or perspectives developed as a result of the conference.

During the year covered by this report, the participants in the Denver User Needs Conference submitted their reports, which then underwent careful analysis by the Committee, with extensive support from a consultant, Dr. Marcia J. Bates, University of Maryland. The findings and implications of the conference, together with the individual papers describing the specific needs of various groups, were prepared for publication and submitted to the Government Printing Office in May 1974. The publication is entitled, "Library and Information Service Needs of the Nation: Proceedings of a Conference on the Needs

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of Occupational, Ethnic, and Other Groups in the United States."

Many of the descriptions of needs for library and information service, for most of the individual groups, had a common theme: Our citizens need large amount of "life information"-information contributing to day-to-day survival and success in living. They have always needed such information, but now, in an increasingly complex society, the need is growing and becoming more insistent. Many of our citizens are receiving poor service in this area, and the conference participants felt that, for the time being, disproportionately large resources should go into bringing the status of the currently unserved or poorly served up to that of the well served. In the category of the less well served, the participants included not only the culturally isolated, the handicapped, and other minority groups in the general population, but also the lower echeIon professional and occupational groups who do not get the quality of service that, for example, scientific researchers receive. Since many of the unserved do not or cannot read, strong emphasis must be given to the use of nonprint media.

Conference participants pointed to the problems created by the sheer quantity of information that is potentially accessible. There are now so many different sources dispensing so much information that the user who is in need of a specific kind of information often does not even know where to begin. In the view of many conference participants, libraries could and should take on the role of central switching agency in the community and should become the first place that citizens could call to get either the ultimate information desired or a direction to the source that can provide the information. They also expressed the view that information services need to be more selective, interpretive, and personalized, to help provide that material that is truly relevant and responsive to the individual's needs.

There was strong sentiment for the view that the library must expand its concept of service if it is to be in the forefront of information services in the new age of information. The library has the potential to emerge as a potent public information source if it can shake the retarding elements of the old paradigm of public library service. It needs to change its ideas of:

- what information is (only cognitive);

what the medium for information transfer is (only or primarily traditional print forms);

what the institutional context for information transfer is (the quiet, reserved library context); and

what an information transfer facilitator is (the "librarian" image).

Many libraries and librarians have already changed significantly from the classic, traditional model, but in relation to the current realities, the field as a whole may, because of limited financial resources and limiting service conceptions, be acting too slowly in taking on the new and much more extended information service tasks required in an age of information.

Among the major tasks with which the Commission is charged is that of planning for the coordinated development and equitable use of the Nation's library and informational resources. To the extent that this task involves Commission in system design-and the term "system" here does not necessarily imply either centralization of Federal control-the Commission must ask, again and again: "How well does this proposed system or service, meet the specific needs of group A? of group B? and of each of the other groups in our population that have special, identifiable needs for library and information service?" The implication of this is that the most valuable information stemming from the Denver User Needs Conference consists of the detailed statements of user requirements. The Commission is already using this material to help define and develop its national program. But every library, every city, every state, and every library system organization can also begin to use those requirements as a useful point of departure in appraising both present and planned services.

The Commission does not assume that the statements of user needs contained in the report of the Denver User Needs Conference are complete or even fully accurate. Some potential user groups in the population were not covered in any great detail; others were not covered at all. But until we can develop more detailed, empirically based, comprehensive data, the information in the report can serve the checklist function outlined above.

The conference presentations and discussion revealed the need to:

1. Develop an understanding of the library and information service needs of all subgroups of the population, and

2. Develop tools and techniques for gathering accurate, consistent, and comparable data on information needs and for the subsequent description of those needs.

The problem of achieving reliability and validity of data gathered on information needs is complex and diffi