States on the basis of the enrollment in nonprofit private schools in each State compared with the total of such enrollment in all States. Loans are then approved within these allotments on the basis of applications. Rates of interest are one-quarter of 1 percent greater than the "current average yields of outstanding U.S. marketable obligations" reported for the last day of the preceding month. Loans and accrued interest are to be repaid within 10 years of the date of the loan. Amounts for loans in the 1959-60 school year are reported in column 4 of table 28. Table 8 reports the comparable amounts for the 1958-59 school year.

UTILIZATION OF NEW EDUCATIONAL MEDIA

Under the provisions of title VII of the National Defense Education Act of 1958, the Office of Education through grants or contracts conducts, assists, and fosters research and experimentation in the educational uses of television, radio, motion pictures, and related media of communication; and directly, or through contracts, disseminates information concerning these new media to State and local public school systems and to colleges and universities.

Research and experimentation is concerned with new educational media and is directed toward the improvement of educational services in the operation of public elementary or secondary schools or of institutions of higher education. Emphasis is given to research and experimentation in the development of effective techniques for using new educational media, for training teachers in such use, and for presenting academic subject matter through these media.

Extensive service is provided under this program through the dissemination of information concerning the utilization of television, radio, motion pictures, and related media for educational purposes. Included are (1) the results of the research and experimentation and studies and surveys to determine the need for increased or improved use of new educational media; (2) catalogs, bibliographies, and other materials deemed useful in the encouragement and more effective use of new educational media; and (3) assistance and demonstrations upon request to State and local educational agencies and to institutions of higher education in the uses of new educational media.

Under the present procedure, the Office receives proposals for research projects or for the financing of dissemination activities from public and private agencies, organizations, and individuals. Proposals are submitted for review and recommendation to the Advisory Committee on New Educational Media provided under title VII of the act. The committee consists of 14 members and is composed of the U.S. Commissioner of Education; a representative of the National Science Foundation; three persons identified with the sciences, liberal

arts, or modern foreign languages in institutions of higher education; three persons actually engaged in teaching or in the supervision of teaching in elementary or secondary schools; three persons of demonstrated ability in the utilization or adaptation of television, radio, motion pictures, and related media of communication for educational purposes; and three representatives of the lay public who have demonstrated an interest in the problems of communication media.

The committee evaluates research proposals in light of criteria which deal with significance of the problem for education, soundness of the research design, personnel and facilities available, and economic efficiency or relationship of procedure and probable outcomes to expenditure. Suggested dissemination activities are evaluated in light of the basic program developed by the Office and are initiated as the occasion requires. After approval by the committee, grants are made to applicants for support of research projects. do not require matching funds from the grantee; however, the cooperating institution or agency often contributes to the total cost of the project by providing professional services, facilities, or equipment. Dissemination contracts are negotiated directly by the Office with an appropriate agency, organization, or individual.

Such grants

Annual appropriations are made to the Office of Education for the program of adapting new educational media to school services and funds for grants or contracts are distributed on a quarterly basis Funds that are obligated during a school year are not necessarily distributed within that year. Table 29 indicates the amounts obligated for 1958-59 and a portion of the 1959-60 school year. Amounts obligated for each State in the 1959-60 school year are given in table 30. Similar figures for 1958-59 are indicated in column 14 of summary table 3.

Table 29.-FEDERAL FUNDS OBLIGATED FOR RESEARCH AND FOR DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE UTILIZATION OF NEW EDUCATIONAL MEDIA: 1958-59 AND 1959-60

Table 30.-FEDERAL FUNDS OBLIGATED FOR RESEARCH AND UTILIZATION OF NEW EDUCATIONAL MEDIA: 1959-60

A total of 64 projects of research or experimentation and 13 contracts to advance the objectives of the dissemination program approved in the 1958-59 school year have received financial support. By April 30, 1960, an additional 17 research projects and 11 contracts for dissemination activities were approved for support in the 1959-60 school year, and it is anticipated that several more research projects and contracts for dissemination activities will be approved.

The Library Services Act, Public Law 597 of the Eighty-fourth Congress, was passed in June 1956. This act is designed to stimulate States, by means of Federal grants, to extend public library services to rural areas with inadequate services or without such facilities.

Provisions in the Library Services Act authorize appropriations of $7.5 million annually for 5 years for grants to the States for the extension and improvement of rural public library services. Funds are allotted to the States on the basis of their rural population and are to be matched by the States on the basis of their per capita income. Amounts allocated but unpaid to a State for any school year remain available for 1 succeeding school year.

For this program, a rural area is defined as any place of 10,000 population or less according to the latest U.S. census. However, funds may be utilized by urban libraries to extend services to rural

areas.

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Each State's library extension agency prepares and submits to the U. S. Commissioner of Education a plan which will, in its judgment, assure the best use of program grants. As provided in the approved State plan, funds may be used for salaries, books, library materials and equipment, and other operating expenses but not for the erection of buildings or the purchase of land. To remain eligible for a Federal grant, a State must maintain its expenditures for all public library services at least at the same level as during the 1955-56 school year. The Federal appropriation for the first year of the act, the 1956-57 school year, was $2,050,000. It provided the basic $40,000 grant to each of the 50 States and Puerto Rico, and $10,000 for the Virgin Islands. Beginning with the 1957-58 school year, $10,000 was also included for Guam.

Matching provisions of the act require the Federal Government to supply a portion known as the "Federal share." The remaining portion, calculated by means of the "State percentage," is provided from State and local funds. The total amount is then expended under State and local responsibility which is defined in the act as follows:

The provisions of this act shall not be so construed as to interfere with State and local initiative and responsibility in the conduct of public library services. The administration of public libraries, the selection of personnel and library books and materials, and, insofar as consistent with the purposes of this act, the determination of the best uses of the funds provided under this act shall be reserved to the States and their local subdivisions.

The State percentage varies from State to State and is computed on the basis of per capita income as follows:

State percentage=50 percentX:

State per capita income
U.S. per capita income

State percentages are established in the law at 50 percent for Hawaii, and 34 percent for Alaska, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The Federal share is 100 percent minus the State percentage. Per capita incomes used in the calculations are based on the average of the per capita incomes of the States and of the continental United States for the 3 most recent consecutive years for which satisfactory data are available from the Department of Commerce. The Federal share may not be more than 66 percent nor less than 33 percent for any State.

Analyses of the State plans and budgets for the programs of the 52 participating States and Territories for the 1959-60 school year provide the following summary:

Table 31 reports the allotments made to the States and Territories for the 1959-60 school year. The appropriation was $6 million with the provision that the allotments be calculated on the basis of $7.5 million. Later in the year Congress approved a supplemental appropriation of $131,000. Since some States did not participate to the full extent of the amount allotted, the total of $6,131,000 was sufficient to meet the Federal obligation in full.

Table 31.-FEDERAL FUNDS ALLOTTED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIBRARY SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS: 1959-60

1 The appropriation was $6 million for fiscal year 1960 with the proviso that allotments be made on the basis of $7.5 million.

2 Indicates allotted amount but State does not participate.

The influence of this program is registered in many ways. For example, many States are making incentive grants to counties and regions which will develop cooperative library services to bring books and information to all the rural people; some States are establishing State library branches in sparsely settled regions from which bookmobile service is extended; two States, Arizona and Utah, established their first State library extension service; and three States, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oregon, voted their first State-grant programs for public libraries as a result of the Library Services Act.