Departments of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare and Related Agencies Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1974

be applied to each segment of society. We know about the differing requirements for amounts and types of foods that are needed for maintenance of life, for growth, for physical work, for adults, for pregnant women, for infants, for arctic residents, for athletes, for astronauts. We must learn more about the differing information requirements of diverse groups. Until we achieve a more complete understanding of the scope and diversity of these needs, it would be unseemly for the Commission to recommend the use of scarce resources to expand current information services and systems. The Commission has embarked on a program to provide itself with information on the user's needs and has before it some preliminary reports.

One study identified some of the important user groups whose needs for information are likely to differentiate them substantially from other groups. The distinctions the report makes are being reviewed in order to give the problems some manageable proportions. A second study focuses on those societal changes of the next ten years that will affect the information seeking behavior of young persons and adults. The two reports were the cornerstones for a small invitational Com. mission-sponsored conference held in May of this year. Twenty-five conferees, including three Commission members and two members of the staff elicited specifics on the current and future information needs of a few of the larger groups and some of the unserved groups within our population. A portion of the information received is opinion and even opinionated, but the Commission does, as a result of the studies and the conference, have a start in this fundamental aspect of its work. In fiscal 1974 the Commission expects to use the information it has already gathered, to add new data to it and to construct a reasonable approximation of the character and scope of the diverse information needs for several of the segments of United States society.

2. ORGANIZATION OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICE

The Commission has given priority in its work to understanding the present patterns of library and information system organization and to the changes in these patterns that are and will be required to meet the identifiable needs of users. Members have studied the recommendations of the U.S. and foreign agencies and gathered information on possibilities for structuring a national or a multi-regional array of information services. Regional hearings in the Midwest, Far West and Southeast have produced ideas and suggestions from businessmen, legislators, educators, librarians and others on the arrangements needed for information service in their region. More than four hundred fifty public witnesses have come to the Commission with either written or oral testimony. Their contribution to the planning work of the Commission has been compiled and digested in a staff document. In order to avoid unnecessary repetition of testimony a summary of the condensation of previous witnesses' remarks will be provided to those who submit testimony for the hearings scheduled in the Northeast and Southwest in fiscal 1974.

Preliminary drafting of a planning document for a future network of libraries and information services is in progress. This document, now in its very early stages, will benefit from the hearings described above, from a Commission study of the role of the Library of Congress and from a Commission review of Federally and privately sponsored information services. Preparation of this planning document is a major activity of the Commission at present and the Commission hopes to have it ready for review in fiscal 1974.

3. FINANCIAL AND LEGAL PROBLEMS OF LIBRARIES

Information is a national and an international resource; yet the institutions that provide access to recorded knowledge are sometimes hedged about with financial and legal restraints that limit user access. The Commission has received the results of a first study on the current methods and levels of state and local funding patterns for public libraries. A staff study on the patterns of finance for school libraries is also complete. The Commission is now using these reports as a basis for planning recommendations on the future pattern of Federal, state and local funding. A contractor is assisting the Commission in this by suggesting possible alternate arrangements in the light of their study of library and information service as a commodity whose economic characteristics can be treated using modern public goods theory. This work is to lead to rec

ommendations by the Commission for a corrective program regarding legal handicaps and a satisfactory framework for the Federal, state and local components in the funding of libraries and related information services.

4. ADEQUACIES AND DEFICIENCIES OF PRESENT LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS A Commission committee is leading the effort to provide an overview of the deficiencies of current library and information systems. In this work the Commission has had the assistance of the Association of Research Libraries to determine whether some of the deficiencies can be met by providing either a national bibliographic and lending center or a system of regional centers for these purposes. A companion study to provide details on the feasibility of the regional centers that were recommended has just begun. It appears that the provision of adequate sources and resources for scholarly research and for other information searching requires a better organized and better stocked system of resource centers than are now available. In this connection another Commission committee has concluded a study on the national service functions of the Library of Congress and as I mentioned will combine its recommendations with those proposed in a consolidated planning document on national library networks during fiscal 1974.

5. APPLICATIONS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY

The Commission is a cautious advocate in this area. A committee is gathering background information for planning in this field. The Commission will assess the new forms of technology in terms of their usefulness to the user and the cost of changing long-established methods to newer ones.

The use of closed circuit television, CATV and TV response systems, computers, and new forms of communication and information storage lie along the course of future library and information transfer and delivery systems. The Commission expects to take cognizance of their introduction and use by commercial firms and public bodies. Less glamorous, but equally important, are technical studies and plans leading to low-cost preservation of rapidly deteriorating library materials.

6. HUMAN RESOURCES IN INFORMATION SERVICES

Information transfer does not occur in a social vacuum; a key ingredient in the transmission is the individual assistant called the librarian, information specialist, or literature searcher.

The Commission's focus on the user implies a serious concern with the number, ability and distribution of those who provide assistance in the use of information services. The Commission is beginning to assess the future needs for selecting, training, retraining, and continuing education of these individuals to assure the availability of fully qualified information service personnel. In addition, the Commission has contracted for a planning document to give them a program for the continuing education of those who do provide information services at all levels. The study is to be complete in March 1974.

During the year covered by this budget request the Commission plans to make useful progress in each of the six areas. In fiscal 1974 the Commission expects to provide some initial recommendations. In the budget justification submitted separately we have suggested a few of the studies that are needed and estimated our obligations for fiscal 1974. To the extent possible we shall continue to coordinate our efforts with those of the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Education, and other Federal agencies.

I shall be pleased to have questions on this request.

Justification

Appropriation Estimate

For necessary expenses of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, established by the Act of July 20, 1970, (Public Law 91-345), $406,000.