than ever before. Electrical networking facilities must be planned and established lest we fail to capitalize on the new technology. This will increase the value of interlibrary cooperation, and will make it easier to achieve. But much work remains to be done to build national networks-work that may well be done only with difficulty without a powerful national agency to help find the way. My pledge of support to you is more than just words. Please call on me if I can help in any way. (For the record, I am a graduate of both the University of Washington and of Columbia University library schools, having recently obtained my doctorate from Columbia. As noted, I am Director of Libraries of the Smithsonian Institution. I am President of the Information Science and Automation Division of the American Library Association, and Chairman of the Engineering Division of the Special Libraries Association.) Sincerely yours, RUSSELL SHANK. Hon. JOHN BRADEMAS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY, Chairman, Select Subcommittee on Education, Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. BRADEMAS: I heartily support the action that you and several other members of the House of Representatives have taken in introducing a bill to create a permanent National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. The increasing importance of libraries and adequate library services to the cultural and educational well-being of all citizens in the United States cannot be underestimated. The knowledge explosion is in evidence everywhere around us. Not only is it essential that we keep abreast of new information that is available, but it also continues to be essential that we keep alive and useful the vast store of knowledge which we have inherited from the past. Since the role of the Federal Government in the field of education has assumed greater significance in recent years, and since libraries at all levels must look to the Federal Government for financial assistance in training personnel, acquiring facilities and resources, and developing cooperative programs, it is commendable that a national commission exist to advise the President and Congress regarding library policies and programs. I commend you and your colleagues for your interest in this field and hope that favorable action will result from your endeavors. Sincerely yours, Hon. JOHN BRADEMAS, KENNETH G. PETERSON, Associate Librarian. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON LIBRARIES, Chairman, Select Committee on Education, DEAR CONGRESSMAN BRADEMAS: I would like to commend you and those other members of the House of Representatives who introduced the bill to create a permanent National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. You have been given sufficient reason by the National Advisory Commission on Libraries why such a Commission should be established. I will not, therefore, attempt to rehearse them. I would, however, like to add my personal opinion, which is based on experience as a librarian in various parts of the country, in various kinds of libraries, since 1938. There has always been evidence of the need for the kind of an agency which is described in the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science bill. The Government, through a variety of agencies, has been able to meet some of the nation's needs for library and information service over the years. Some in the past have thought the Library of Congress could assume that role, but it is evident that it cannot. One ought to give credit to the Congress and to the Federal agencies for accomplishing what has already been done, but the educational and information needs of the people of this country are so enormous that nothing short of the kind of effort that can be mustered by a well-planned and supported independent agency as that proposed in your bill will suffice. I would like to conclude by expressing hope that your Committee will act favorably on the bill which you and other members of the House have introduced and that the Congress of the United States will enact the legislation which has been proposed. If there is anything that I, as a librarian and a citizen, can do beyond writing to you in support, I am ready to do it. Sincerely yours, Hon. JOHN BRADEMAS, MARION A. MILCZEWSKI, Director of Libraries. WASHINGTON STATE LIBRARY, Chairman, Select Subcommittee on Education, House of Representatives, Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. BRADEMAS: It is indeed good news to hear from you that you and several other members of the House of Representatives, of both parties, introduced a bill to create a permanent National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. It is the much desired step forward to carry into action the recommendations of the National Advisory Commission on Libraries and to assist in bringing quality resources within reach of the citizens. This is important legslation. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist in its passage. Thank you for writing. Sincerely yours, Mrs. BRUCE A. COOMBS, Vice-Chairman, Washington State Library Commission and Immediate Past President, American Library Trustee Association. Mr. JOHN BRADEMAS, THE STATE OF WISCONSIN, Madison, Wis., March 17, 1969. Chairman, Select Subcommittee on Education, Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN BRADEMAS: Thank you for your letter of March 12 concerning the introduction of a bill to create a permanent National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. I am most pleased that you have included the text of the bill along with your letter. My staff and I in recent months have discussed the recommendation for a permanent National Commission, and we do believe it will perform a valuable service. One issue would seem to be the manner in which such a Commission will be placed within the Executive Branch. It seems to me that your bill achieves a desirable independence for the National Commission, while at the same time offering it supporting services of the logical department. We commend you for the introduction of this important legislation. W. LYLE EBERHART, Assistant Superintendent. Hon. JOHN BRADEMAS, THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT MILWAUKEE, Chairman, Select Subcommittee on Education, Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR REPRESENTATIVE BRADEMAS: I welcome the opportunity to express my opinion regarding the proposed legislation to establish a permanent National Commission on Library and Information Science and would like to express to you my appreciation for sponsoring this legislation which many of us have been advocating for several years. I have written an article on this topic in the May 1st, 1967 issue of the Library Journal and enclose a copy. As I envision the Commission, it would assume the role of a national advisory and coordinating body reporting directly to the President and the nation at large on the direction in which libraries and information systems should move. The areas closest to my work in Wisconsin are the education of librarians and information specialists, the updating and upgrading of the profession and thereby the bridging of the present manpower shortage in these fields. I would like to suggest that in section 5(a)3 reference is made library and information science education and manpower developments to read as follows: "(3) Evaluate the effectiveness of library and information science operational and education programs and manpower needs and disseminate the results thereof." I have just been awarded a grant by the U.S. Office of Education to make a study in this field (entitled North American Library Education Directory and Statistics, 1968-70) a follow up to a similar study which I conducted for 1966–68. Your efforts on behalf of the future of library and information science developments are greatly appreciated. Sincerely yours, FRANK L. SCHICK, Director, School of Library and Information Science. A PERMANENT AGENCY (By Frank L. Schick) The responsibilities which the President gave the Commission are clear and precise. However, the Commission's scope is too sweeping and its funding too limited for its mandate to be discharged within a year. The Commission should become a permanent, independent, national agency modeled after the Federal Communications Commission or the National Foundation on the Arts and Hu manities. A permanent library agency should encompass the functions of similar existing programs such as those of the Federal Library Committee and COSATI, but it should not be a part of already existing agencies. It should be given responsibilities to coordinate and possibly to conduct (and/or contract for) statistical and nonstatistical studies and surveys regarding all phases of library and information developments. To accomplish these tasks the Commission should be provided with the authority and means to publish its studies (or those it has contracted for) and to sponsor meetings and conferences essential to its operations. The Commission should be specifically enjoined from administering grant programs and from operating any type of library or informational facilities, except those mentioned above, or any needed for its headquarters and clearinghouse functions. Areas to be studied and reported by the Commission should include the following: (1) The administration of, and the time lag in, library-related grant programs. There are now over 20 federal grant programs on the statute books, administered by various federal agencies and libraries. How much time is now given to the library and educational community to prepare proposals, and bow long it takes the administering agencies to provide guide lines and eventua grants or contracts, should be considered in as much detail as the efficiency of the internal relationships of different bureaus of the same or completely unrelated federal agencies which are administering grants. (2) The structure of library legislation.-The country owes the Congress a debt for the laws which include libraries, but the time may be at hand to examine the total federal legislative library program and its effect on the national library picture. Such a scrutiny would indicate the inequities of funding. The average library spends 60-70 percent of its funds on staffing, the remainder on library materials. Federal funds provide most of the $600 million on improvement of resources and a pittance for staffing and the easing of the manpower shortage. Federal and special libraries and information activities should be included in the federal library legislation. (3) The manpower gap.-To solve the critical manpower shortage will require a broadening of the support base for professionals to the same extent that physicians are assisted by nurses, medical technicians, and a host of others. The Commission should study this critical area in depth and develop, in association with the professional organizations, a national library technician and library aide program. It should make recommendations for national accreditation of these support categories and the establishment of training facilities in junior and community colleges and high schools. These categories should be open-ended to permit advancement for the truly qualified to professional schools of library and information science. (4) Information overlap and resources gap.-To equalize library and information service to all people would require the coordination of all existing library and information outlets and systems into one correlated and integrated library network. This task would include the integration of the services of the national libraries and other federal libraries to existing state, local, and private libraries and information systems. The first steps in this direction have already been taken, primarily by the three national libraries. Automation will eventually provide many but by no means all solutions. Legal problems such as the appropriate federal-state-local relationships, and their sharing of funds and facilities, and questions of copyright, are only a few of the areas which need to be researched and resolved. THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT MILWAUKEE, Hon. JOHN BRADEMAS, Milwaukee, Wis., April 15, 1969. Chairman, Select Subcommittee on Education, Congress of the United States, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN BRADEMAS: Thank you indeed for your kind letter of April 10 concerning the hearings of your Select Subcommittee on Education regarding H.R. 8839 and the opportunity to make some comments regarding this important legislation. I would like to transmit to you the wording of a Resolution regarding this legislation, indicating the importance which the Wisconsin Library Association and its 1600 members attach to your efforts on behalf of library development in the U.S. "Resolved, That the Wisconsin Library Association Executive Board at its regular meeting in Madison, Wisconsin April 2, 1969 goes on record as commending and thanking Congressman John Brademas, Ogden R. Reid and Congressman William A. Steiger from Wisconsin for introducing and co-sponsoring Bill H.R. 8839 and Senators Ralph W. Yarborough and Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin for introducing and co-sponsoring Bill S. 1519, creating a Permanent National Commission on Library and Information Science and pledging wholehearted support." Very sincerely yours, Hon. JOHN BRADEMAS, FRANK L. SCHICK, WYOMING STATE LIBRARY, Chairman, Select Zubcommittee on Education, Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR REPRESENTATIVE BRADEMAS: In response to your letter, dated March 12, 1969, soliciting comments on the proposed bill to establish a National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, may I please offer the following. My colleagues and I, of Wyoming, firmly believe that establishment of such a national commission would be to the great advantage of our State and we assume the nation. It is believed, by us, that such an advisory commission, effectively performing the functions as outlined in the bill, could bring to the attention of our national government the critical needs of library service, as they now exist. It is hoped, during the Wyoming Library Association meeting in April, that the membership will seriously consider the provisions of the bill as a part of their agenda and go on record favoring and in support of this congressional measure. I thank you for bringing the proposed bill to my attention, and I believe I speak for the Association in thanking you for your support of the measure. Sincerely, JACK M. TYLER, Wyoming State Librarian. |