FIGURE II. FEDERAL AND STATE RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE NATIONAL PROGRAM (Cont.)

Facilitating the active participation of the private sector in the development of a national information system may require legislative authority. A new orientation to Federal funding and user économics may also be required to harmonize the traditional library information systems with the newer commercial and other specialized information services.

The exact role of the private sector in a national information program is not yet known. The Commission believes that this area will require intensive study and full collaboration with many different organizations before a meaningful legislative recommendation can be developed.

Responsibilities of the Library of Congress. Among the national facilities with which the Commission is concerned, the largest and the most important to the success of the proposed National Program is the Library of Congress. Because of its size, stature, and comprehensive collections, the Library of Congress is the hub of the nation's bibliographic apparatus for

monographs and serials. The National Library of Medicine and the National Agricultural Library complement the Library of Congress by specializing in their respective fields. All three libraries play a vital role in the library and information programs of the nation. Although the Library of Congress is not officially designated as a national library, it is de facto a national library; it performs many common processing services, and provides many user services for libraries throughout the country. It receives and catalogs the bulk of the same titles received by other American libraries, and the intellectual work which it does centrally obviates the need for local duplication. The National Union Catalog, the Card Distribution Service, and the MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) Program, which includes making current cataloging information available on magnetic tape, are prime examples of the central work done by the Library of Congress which accrues to the benefit of most American libraries.

The participation of the Library of Congress is crucial to the development of a National Program and to the operation of the nationwide network because it has the capacity and the materials to perform many common services in both the areas of technical processing and reference and because it can set national bibliographic standards for the program. New legislation may be needed to designate the Library of Congress as having responsibilty for integral aspects of the National Pro

gram.

The Commission believes that the Library of Congress should be designated as the National Library. In its role as a National Library it should accept the following responsibilities in the National Program:

(1) Expansion of the lending and lending-management function of the Library to that of a National Lending Library of final resort. The Library of Congress has been interlibrary lending a variety of its materials to other libraries for many years. In the development of a national system of information resources, there will be complexes of collections organized for sequential service levels. Loan of library and information materials will, in some cases, have to come from the most comprehensive collection, that of the Library of Congress. To fulfill this requirement for backstopping the other significant resources in the nation, and to do so

without infringing on the need to protect its collections for future use, will require extended new arrangements. Such arrangements will incorporate the purchase of some materials for loan and, in some cases, the use of microforms to produce, simultaneously, a preservation copy and a print copy for loan. Development and management of the components of this extended service, including arrangements for added collections, a new system of interlibrary communications, a new mechanism for obtaining copyright permission, and improved document and text delivery techniques, will be required.

(2) Expansion of coverage of the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging (NPAC). This program, to acquire, catalog quickly and disseminate cataloging data rapidly for all current works of research value, has been progressing for over six years. In that time, the percentage of materials acquired and cataloged from all sources, to meet the expressed needs of the library and research community of the United States, has climbed from fifty percent to seventy-five percent. The Commission believes that the Library of Congress should seek to acquire, catalog and process for current and future use, a larger percentage of the world output. With the expenditure of approximately $15 million per year by the Library of Congress for such a purpose, it is estimated that there would be a fourfold national saving for research libraries alone, as well as additional significant national benefits. This is the kind of economy of scale that a coordinated National Program could bring about. (3) Expansion of Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) to include cataloging in substantially all languages of current monographic, serial, and other significant library and information materials being acquired by the Library of Congress; distribution of this data base, perhaps to state and regional centers and other national network nodes for library and information service. This project, to extend what has already become a landmark service for the public, university and research libraries, and information centers of the nation, is essential for the effective operation of the bibliographic apparatus of the Library of Congress and other research libraries and information agencies. The task of maintaining bibliographic control of the increasing amount of significant library and information materials

acquired by the Library of Congress is best accomplished using automated methods. Improved access to these materials cannot be provided without the application of computer processing to a machine-readable cataloging record. (4) Distribution of bibliographic data through on-line communication. With the promise of acquisition and cataloging of most of the significant publications of the world, including serials, the potential of a complete machine-readable data base can be fulfilled if a central organization speeds the products of these services to the user through his library and information service network. Full utilization of the technology of on-line access and distribution networks must be accomplished as early as the technology makes this economically possible. Some of the products expected are automatic creation of local machine-stored catalogs of local or remote collections, custom-made bibliographies from large data bases, intercoupling of user requests with current cataloging to eliminate delay in availability of recently acquired items, and remote instantaneous delivery of very recent cataloging production.

(5) Development of an expanded general reference program to support the national system for bibliographic service. This would include faster means of communication with other libraries, particularly when the Library of Congress may be the sole source in the nation for the needed information. It would also include an expanded, rapidresponse, referral service to other sources of information. (6) Operation of a comprehensive National Serials Service that will integrate and expand the present serials activities of the Library and provide an organized set of serial services for the nation. Serials constitute the greatest number of individual items in many libraries. Their ordering, receipt, cataloging, indexing, servicing, and preservation consume a sizeable portion of the budget and considerable staff time. National efforts can substantially benefit all libraries, make their work with serials more effective and less costly, and improve the accessibility of serial literature to users. (7) Establishment of a technical services center to provide training in, and information about, Library of Congress techniques and processes, with emphasis on automation. The center's training program would answer the demand for a more detailed knowledge of the Library of Congress's

technical services than can be otherwise gained. It would be developed gradually, would be flexible, and would offer specialized instruction to meet particular needs. It would permit librarians in the field to be brought to the Library of Congress for training, and enable the Library of Congress staff to go out to libraries. The center's information program would be two-way, seeking information from other libraries as to their needs and, concurrently, providing them with up-to-date information about the Library of Congress's technical services. Its staff would make possible expansion of present programs involving communication, consultation, technical institutes, and publication.

(8) Development of improved access to state and local publications and cooperation with state and local agencies to standardize cataloging and other techniques of organization. Potentially useful information in state and local governmental publications is not now widely accessible to users, because it is not uniformly printed, collected, announced, organized, preserved, and publicized. (9) Further implementation of the national preservation program. The physical deterioration of library materials, particularly those printed on paper produced since the middle of the Nineteenth Century, poses increasingly critical problems for libraries. The solution to this problem lies partly in increased research in preservation methods. Inasmuch as the Library of Congress has already mounted an important effort in this area, a further modest increase would speed the time at which viable solutions are available. Additional funds for filming vital materials, for restoring rare materials, and for transferring deteriorated materials into microform are equally important. Funds are also essential to train the added conservators and preservation specialists needed to retain the record of civilization housed in the nation's libraries.

Proposed Legislation

Future legislation will have as its objective the nationwide network and will outline the role of the Federal Government, the national libraries, and the states in its development and implementation. It will also specify the functions which should be performed centrally; it will establish the basis for appropri