allocated on the principle of maximization of library use. Most of the funds would be distributed to library systems that serve relatively well educated and affluent communities, and relatively little resources would be devoted to communities containing disadvantaged populations. The question of appropriate fiscal support for public libraries cuts across problems of differential needs for library services, equalization of resources, and consideration of fiscal autonomy and control of libraries. Practical political constraints of Federal, state, and local governmental relationships, the structure of social values, and matters of economic equity and efficiency must all be given due consideration in choices among alternative options for fiscal support of public libraries. Summary of Conclusions The economist's "public goods theory" can be helpful in providing a general conceptual framework for the development and analysis of alternative methods for the financing of public libraries. However, because of the embryonic nature of the theory, it cannot at this time provide specific and detailed guidelines concerning the normative or proper allocation of fiscal support for a complicated public sector activity such as the public library. An optimal or equitable allocation of the costs of public library services involves matters of political philosophy and social values as well as factors of economic efficiency. Hence, any feasible solution to the problem of the appropriate method of fiscal support of the public library institution must be a broad-gauged one that takes into account the whole range of factors and environmental forces which impinge upon that institution. In this context, the following conclusions may be drawn. 1. In view of the multifaceted research, informational, and recreational services provided by public libraries and the widespread public and private benefits derived from these services, public goods theory would support a multilevel system of financing involving Federal, state, local, and private sources of revenue. 2. Although public goods theory provides reasonable guidance on the distinction between services that should be financed from public versus private funds, the theory provides relatively little counsel on the appropriate allocation of fiscal support among the Federal, state and local governmental hierarchy. 3. Because virtually every activity of public libraries may be viewed as having societal effects, even the delineation between services that produce private rather than public benefits cannot be precisely drawn. 4. The development of equitable and feasible solutions to the problem of public library financing properly must involve a general 12 ALTERNATIVES FOR FINANCING THE PUBLIC LIBRARY consideration of economic principles and effective compromises among a large number of often conflicting political, social, and economic factors. FOOTNOTES 1. Michael Harris, "The Purpose of the American Public Library: A Revisionist Interpretation of History," Library Journal, Vol. 98, No. 16, September 15, 1973, p. 2512. 2. Jesse H. Shera, "The Public Library in Perspective," The Metropolitan Library, edited by Ralph W. Conant and Kathleen Molz, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972, p. 110. 3. Jesse H. Shera, “The Public Library in Perspective," The Metropolitan Library, edited by Ralph W. Conant and Kathleen Molz, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972, p. 106. CHAPTER 2 Role and Functions and Projection Introduction and Purpose The preceding review and appraisal of the origins, growth, present status of the public libraries, and a theoretical basis for their support provides a developmental and economic perspective for formulating alternative funding systems. However, any substantial effort focussed on public service funding problems and mechanisms must include analysis and definition of role and functions. This is particularly true in the case of public libraries where, as previously indicated, questions about role and changing patterns of service are current. What follows is the result of such an in-depth analysis and is presented in terms of the broad categories of functions and services public libraries should provide—now and in the future. The intent is not to document, assess or justify past failures and present service deficiencies, although judgments in these areas are reflected. The analysis is intended to answer two basic questions which, stated bluntly, are: 1. What is the role, today and in the future, for the public library in meeting defined needs of a modern society? and 2. What is the general form and nature of the functions and services which the public library should provide? The answers to both of these questions are relevant to the design of alternative funding systems for providing adequate fiscal support. The public library, as it has evolved in the United States, must be seen as a multi-purpose agency. Its clientele varies from the most advanced of researchers to children engaging in their first reading experiences. To one person, the "public library" is the unique collection of the New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street; to another, it is the miscellany of donated books in an upstairs room of the local village hall. Thus, consideration of public library financing 66-133 - 76-8 14 ALTERNATIVES FOR FINANCING THE PUBLIC LIBRARY must distinguish among the several purposes and publics served by the institution. These contrasting functions, seen in relation to goals of the national life and in relation to legal and de facto responsibilities for services at the several governmental levels, provide guidelines and constraints for defining the financing requirements of this multi-purpose agency. This statement seeks to identify the main purposes of the public library and to present these in functional rather than social terms, i.e., in terms of services given and not of social goals achieved. As major functions are identified, they will be related to potential user groups. The analysis thus recognizes that there is limited evidence of social goal attainment. It also recognizes that there is an essential element of faith underlying public maintenance of libraries. The same element of faith underlies other governmentally-supported agencies, starting with the schools. The gap between potentiality and actuality, the failure of the public library to maintain resources and services needed by some people in some localities, while providing these same services for other people in other localities, is a measure of shortcomings under present sources of funds. The inadequacies of the little library upstairs in the village hall, and equally of the large city library seeking to meet regional demands for recorded knowledge, reflect unfavorably not on the public officials and the professionals responsible for service, but on the structure for funding the institution. There are three major areas of social, cultural and educational needs in modern society which the public library is uniquely designed to serve. They are: (1) specialized and research services, (2) information services, and (3) educational-cultural services. In no sense can the public library meet all, or even a major part, of these needs, but the institution is an essential adjunctive resource accessible to all who seek to improve the quality of life. A description of these services follows. Specialized and Research Services The advanced technology, the inter-dependent free enterprise system, the complex governmental structure and the belief in self-realization which characterize the United States all call for a continual search for knowledge. This search has been a driving force in American life, along with the drive for productivity and the drive for individual freedom. Any diminution in the pursuit of knowledge, like any serious reduction in industrial output or individual liberties, may profoundly alter our way of life. The search for knowledge is not confined to the university campus and the research laboratory. Application of new knowledge, relating what is learned to practical affairs, is part of the American genius. This task is carried out by individuals in high places and low, and by practitioners in big city and small hamlet. The specialist may be a person who knows more about steel production or foreign markets or children's disabilities or regional literature than anyone within a thousand miles and yet he must consult the record of knowledge. Or the searcher may rank as "specialist" only because he has somewhat more background than other nearby individuals—the local building contractor, the school principal, the resident historian, the personnel director of a local plant-and he too needs recourse to the accumulated record. The function of the professional-doctor, lawyer, engineer-is to relate established knowledge to specific problems; part of this background derives from the professional's training, but part must be searched out as cases arise. There is even the amateur scholar, not a university professor or a research chemist, who is simply investigating on his own the more esoteric sources a library can provide. His search may focus on the newest discoveries in radio, astronomy or the oldest origins of the American Indian. Both the pure researcher and the applied practitioner, the national authority and the local specialist, need an organized record of knowledge. The search for the new and the application of the old equally proceed from what is known. Many of the specialized activities of the society start with a visit to the reservoir either as preparation for venturing into the unknown or as preparation for bringing what is known into the daily round of life. Libraries of various types-academic, private and public-are a primary means for preserving the record. The library is the Delphic Oracle of this knowledge-based society, except that the individual petitioner interprets the signs himself. Even the ancient civilizations had their libraries, and it is their content rather than the pronouncements of oracles that has come down to us. The public library in one of its guises plays a strategic role in the interpretation and application of knowledge. It is not pre-eminent in supporting pure research, although a few public libraries contribute at this frontier level. But where they have the capacity, these libraries are the resource of the specialist, who in essence is an adaptor and applier of knowledge. This holds not just for the few public libraries of national stature but for agencies with any depth and scope of holdings dotted in regions across the land. Such a unique institution as the Research Division of the New York Public Library is focussed at the research level. It is different in kind as well as in size from a branch library in a city or a suburban library or a county library, even though all are termed public libraries; its natural |