REGIONAL HEARINGS

Early in its deliberations the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science recognized the need to learn more about library conditions throughout the nation. Regional hearings were planned and announced as timely opportunities for people from all sectors to place before the Commission their views on library and information science services. The hearings would also give the Commission an opportunity to present its own recommendations and plans for criticism and review by the people most affected by them. The hearings would foster an understanding of the Commission's role and enable the Commission's planning effort to derive the regular benefit of the thoughtful critique of concerned witnesses.

Plans were made for a mid-West regional hearing in Chicago on September 27, 1972; a far-West (including Hawaii and Alaska) regional hearing in San Francisco on November 29, 1972; and a Southeast (and Virgin Islands) regional hearing in Atlanta on March 7, 1973. Written testimony was solicited in advance from legislators, professional leaders, trustees and friends of the library; from state and city administrative personnel; and from businessmen, lawyers, writers, students, retired people and from other users and nonusers of libraries within each region. More than 450 testimonial documents were received. Respondents were invited to be present on the day of the hearing to answer questions put to them during the 9-10 hour session by the Commission. A two-hour block of time was reserved each day as open time to permit anyone present to give ex tempore testimony.

Each hearing had its distinct character dependent, it seemed, on the nature of the region and the regional library resources, on the progress of Commission activities and on the state of Federal

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funding for library activities. Chicago witnesses were asked for their views on the future of libraries, on the need for regional and national services and the possibility of a national plan to provide themincluding the role NCLIS might play. The hearing produced discussion of the need for standards by which to judge library services and library education. Speakers from rural areas described rudimentary services that were in sharp contrast to those of regional resource centers in populated zones. Minority groups sought attention for their special needs, including that of having foreign language materials for adults and children.

The emphasis in the San Francisco hearing testimony was on regional cooperation to satisfy the needs of people in both densely populated areas and across the sparsely populated distances of the far-West. Statewide library cooperation was inspiring public interest and attention. Services for special groups were much discussed and speakers attested to the information needs of Indians, migrant workers, prisoners, Chinese-Americans, Spanish-Americans and Blacks. Balancing these pleas for attention were descriptions of the dilemma faced by city and university librarians who are trying to satisfy the demands of their local public and also meet the needs of more distant persons who look to the larger libraries as regional centers for materials not available locally. The resources of the West, they testified, are unequal to the task.

Southeastern area speakers anticipated dire effects from the Federal decision to end categorical funding. Speakers testified to the need for library expansion in the Southeastern region as a resource for growth for individual citizens and for the region by attracting business and industry to it. The area lacks widespread research resources, but plans are in a formative stage for a regional network to connect and reinforce available facilities. The view received from testimony was one of earnest attempts to overcome the disadvantages of widespread population and low budgets through cooperative arrangements. Much attention was given to the provision of adequate service for the general public, including the illiterate and the disadvantaged, who until recently had not been served. The lack of trained librarians and of funds for salaries high enough to attract them was seen as the greatest hindrance to the provision of adequate service.

In preparation for the hearings each of the invitees was sent a copy of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science's enabling legislation and additional information relating to the Commission's early actions. The role NCLIS could play in proposing and coordinating library and information science programs on a national scale received much attention in responsive testimony. Generally, the Commission is looked to as a muchneeded body, one having the mandate to provide leadership in national planning, to set priorities among possible courses of action and to coordinate its efforts with state agencies and other national bodies for common purposes. The willing response to the Com

mission's request for testimony reveals a corps of highly motivated persons who are eager to listen, contribute and respond to Commission leadership. No other group has attempted to fill the role of national information service planner though some have had a major influence on library progress.

NCLIS was seen as a body of national influence beyond the authority presently delegated to it. Witnesses were clear that they look to the Commission for leadership and asked it to design and sponsor the legislation to provide quality library and information service and equal access to it for citizens across the nation. In doing so, many witnesses reiterated the urgency of the charge given to the Commission by the Public Law under which it is constituted.

The proceedings of these hearings are important to the Commission and to others interested in current data on the problems of obtaining information through libraries and information services. To make the testimony widely available, the Commission has announced its availability in toto through the Educational Resources Information Center. The written testimony submitted for the first hearing in Chicago has also been published in a volume entitled "In Our Opinion" by the Illinois State Library, Springfield, Illinois.

It is not possible to present here an adequate summary of the opinions expressed in more than one thousand pages of thoughtfully prepared testimony. An attempt is made to highlight the testimony that the Commission has found important for its further evaluation and consideration. The comments follow, in general, the framework of the Commission's activity in six areas:

1. The information needs, desires and demands of users and socalled "nonusers."

2. The adequacies and deficiencies of current library and information services.

3. The problems of funding all categories of information service. 4. The introduction, testing and use of new technology of storage, retrieval, copying, transmission and preservation for recorded information including audio-visual materials.

5. The selection, training, assignment and continuing education of persons employed in the information industry.

6. The development of intrastate and interstate networks for information services including collection development, bibliographic processing and access, question-answering reference work and access to text and data.

1. Information needs, desires and demands of

users

One of the notable differences between the findings of the 1968 National Advisory Commission on Libraries and the testimony of the

current hearings is the diversity of individual needs laid before the Commission. No longer do libraries serve only a small homogeneous population as was reported to the Advisory Commission. The poor, the isolated, the institutionalized, the foreign speaking, the children in nursery schools and the aged in nursing homes, the researcher in his office and the student in his lab are beginning to be served from information resources delivered in many ways. Librarians and information scientists-and the officials who back them-voiced their basic desire to provide equal access to the nation's information resources for all citizens. They asked the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science to plan a means by which it can be brought about.

The needs of scholars, scientists and businessmen, among others, are somewhat different from those of most urban citizens. Where the latter's needs are for general information and individualized service, the needs of the specialist are more particularized. They want a specific publication. Their need is to locate and obtain a copy quickly. Interlibrary loan networks and automated data bases sometimes provide these services. Witnesses asked NCLIS to give attention to the need and demand for these services as a part of their study of user's needs.

Balancing services to satisfy needs is very difficult. The problem is faced in every library; it is particularly poignant in the venerable libraries of major cities. These libraries, whose resources are called upon to answer the needs of expanding citizen subgroups (including the business and research needs of industry and scholarship) and whose collections are sought for rare or unique items by people across the nation, have become nationally important resources that receive only local support. Likewise, university and certain special libraries are called upon to serve the general public as well as their own clientele without supplementary compensation.

The Commission received extensive testimony on the needs of still other special groups: children, businessmen, minorities, the aged, lawyers, doctors, technicians, prisoners, the handicapped, the retarded and people of identifiable ethnic background. All require materials by and about their own kind in their own language. They also need a responsive information staff who will understand their differences and energetically provide the services satisfying to that group.

The most often mentioned user need was that for public information of all kinds. Respondents wanted libraries to be able to inform citizens of the laws and codes under which they live (including proposed changes to laws), the requirements and procedures pertaining to social services, the names and programs of candidates for office, governmental reports and citizen group findings and information on charitable institutions and social organizations. They wanted better information on courses of study

offered in local schools and on scholarships available to local students.

Concern was expressed that as libraries become increasingly complex the patrons find the diversity of materials, formats and services increasingly difficult to use. It was suggested that study should begin with the question, "How do people find what they do find?" NCLIS was asked to assure the planning of the special services that are needed to aid the uninitiated user to find what he wants.

2. The Adequacies and Deficiencies of Current Libraries and Information Services

New standards are necessary, witnesses said, before a reliable assessment can be made of the adequacies and deficiencies of present services. Because present standards are based on quantitative measures, many witnesses urged the Commission to establish new ones by which the quality of information services can be judged. New standards for information services should enable benefits to be evaluated in terms of costs. Respondents discussed accreditation of libraries based on standards and the effects of rapid changes in other institutions on the needs for information service and the possibility that social indicators might be determined which would point to needed changes in information services.

Inadequate assessments notwithstanding, deficiencies in present services were discussed. Deficiencies in the training of library personnel, problems with automated systems and inefficient patterns of organization are considered in later paragraphs; deficiencies in services are considered here.

Gaps and duplications in present services were highlighted by many witnesses who saw the problem from quite different angles. Rural areas, elementary schools and small colleges, especially Black colleges, are the most noticeable locales of deficient service. The low tax base and isolated population of rural areas preclude the building of adequate collections. A strong sense of individualism combined with the low value placed on good information service has, in many places, prevented the regional cooperation that might have provided adequate service. Demographic studies show that today's rural people will be tomorrow's urban patrons. Future demands are being created now. Similarly, the reading habits molded in childhood are those of the adult. The number of school libraries is growing but many are inadequate in terms of staff as well as materials. Small colleges are joining in consortia among themselves and in larger cooperative programs in order to provide their students and faculties access to the materials they need but cannot afford. Community colleges are enrolling students before adequate library resources can be gathered to support their studies.

The relationship of school libraries to public libraries received