humanistic investigation backed by extensive data and documentation. As the Commission develops its recommendations, it will address current library and information problems and issues and also plan for imminent and predictable changes.

Because this is an era of rapid change, the Commission's planning effort must be continuous and thorough. The planning must embrace coordinated development of libraries in the private sector and at all levels of government and take into consideration existing and potential national resources for meeting current and future information needs.

ADMINISTRATION

AND ORGANIZATION

Fifteen Commission members are authorized by the act. Fourteen are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate; the 15th is the Librarian of Congress who serves ex officio.

President Nixon made his appointments to the Commission in May 1971. Under the act, five members must have a professional background in libraries or information science; the others must have special competence or interest in the field. One member is a specialist in the technological aspects of library and information services. Three of the members appointed in 1971 were asked to serve for 5 years and the others for shorter periods of 4, 3, 2, and 1 years. This provision assures continuity of membership when subsequent 5-year appointments are made. Commission members serve without salary but those who are not Federal employees are compensated for expenses and attendance at Commission meetings. Appendix II lists the current membership.

Dr. Frederick H. Burkhardt, President of the American Council of Learned Societies, is the presidentially appointed chairman of the Commission. Miss Catherine Scott of the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum Library, was elected by the members to serve as vice-chairman for the year.

For its chief administrative officer, the Commission appointed as Executive Director Charles H. Stevens, who joined the staff

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in January 1972 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Deputy Director, Roderick G. Swartz, was formerly Associate Director of the Tulsa, Okla., City-County Public Library System. Mrs. Mary Alice Hedge Reszetar, Associate Deputy Director and Administrative Officer, had been Administrative Officer of the National Advisory Commission on Libraries before becoming associated with this Commission in August 1971. Two executive secretaries, Mrs. Barbara Dixon and Mrs. Linda Ulrich, complete the staff. Under Public Law 91-345, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare provides administrative support to the Commission to assist the staff with budget preparation, payroll accounting, contract negotiation, and personnel records.

Headquarters for Commission activity were established at 1717 K Street NW., Washington, D.C. 20036. This location provides rapid access to many of the government bureaus and private agencies whose work relates to that of the Commission.

Appropriation

The Commission has Congressional authorization to expend $750,000 annually. During the year under review, $200,000 was appropriated. These funds have been spent to cover the expenses of Commission meetings, to pay staff salaries, to rent and equip an office, and to pay for studies and reviews prepared by consultants and others. A summary fiscal report is included in this report as appendix VI.

490-996 0-72—2

FIRST YEAR
ACTIVITIES

Meetings and Committees

Because the Commission was to have a very small staff and because its charge was considered urgent, the members decided at the outset to meet frequently and regularly. Twelve day-long sessions were held between September 20, 1971, and the end of June 1972 with most of the members present at each meeting. In addition to meetings of the full Commission-all of which were held in Washington, D.C.-Commission committees have met and worked together in Washington and elsewhere. The chairman has appointed several committees to investigate specific aspects of the Commission's responsibility and to provide recommendations for Commission review. Some of the major problems on which special committees are now working are the identification of the information needs of various groups of users; the assessment of adequacies and deficiencies in current library and information handling systems; and the application of new technology in libraries. A complete list of committees is given as appendix III.

Other Agencies

From the beginning the Commission members have recog. nized that their comprehensive charge was only a part of a widespread concern for library and information problems. Library associations and professional societies in communications,

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computer sciences, publishing, education, indexing, abstracting, television, and photography share the concerns. Government agencies and their libraries throughout the executive branch are involved as is the Library of Congress. These groups and agencies are important to the Commission because it is with their help that some of the Commission's plans will be made and carried out. To ensure that their ideas and concerns receive Commission attention, the Commission initiated contacts with them almost immediately after it was appointed.

The first contacts were made at Commission meetings. Throughout the year the Commission has invited agency and professional society representatives to the meetings to learn about their activities and future plans. Private and public funding agencies, including the Council on Library Resources, Inc., the Office of Science Information Service (National Science Foundation), and the Bureau of Libraries and Learning Resources (U.S. Office of Education), have explained their policies and programs. The Commission has also heard from government agencies that provide information and publications, including the largest Federal libraries and the National Technical Information Service. It has discussed problems of mutual concern with representatives of libraries of many types and with informa. tion specialist organizations from several fields. A complete listing of the individuals and organizations heard at Commission meetings is given as appendix IV.

Contact with these groups is considered vital to the Commission and they will be invited to participate in Commission deliberations from time to time in the future. The Commission hopes that joint programs of study and action will be the natural outcome of these meetings since it shares with these groups the objectives of better library and information services. Regular contact with allied public and private groups is a staff responsibility; the contacts will be used to share as well as gather information. The Commission, in the course of establishing this liaison, has visited three great libraries in the nation's capital: the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Agricultural Library.

Regional Hearings

With all of the Commission meetings in Washington, D.C., it was logical to establish liaison first with Federal agencies and groups whose headquarters or regional offices are also in or near the capital. However, the Commission recognized that library problems and information needs are not the same in every