Prepared statements, letters, supplemental material, etc.—Continued Thomson, Ralph D., director of libraries, the University of Utah, Tyler, Jack M., Wyoming State librarian, Cheyenne, Wyo., letter to Van Zanten, Frank, director, Tucson Public Library, Tucson Ariz., Venn, Grant, Associate Commissioner for Adult, Vocational and Li- brary Programs, Office of Education, Department of Health, Edu- cation, and Welfare, comments on the Commission's role as de- scribed in H.R. 8839 (sec. 5(a)) versus H.R. 908 (sec. 3(b)) _ - - - - - - Von Oesen, Elaine, president, Southeastern Library Association, Vosper, Robert, university librarian, University of California, Los Position statement of the Association of Research Libraries' Page 206 221 226 182 190 Wagman, Frederick H., director, University Library, the University 200 Wainwright, Hon. Stuyvesant, letter from Vice President Nixon, in 120 Warden, Mrs. R. D., Great Falls, Mont., letter to Chairman Perkins, 204 Wasserman, Paul, dean, University of Maryland, School of Library Watkins, David R., director, Fordham University Library, Bronx, Wells, Herman B., chancellor, Indiana University, statement by- White, Herbert S., president, Special Libraries Association, prepared 197 208 185 109 212 Whitenack, Carolyn I., professor and chairman, Educational Media, Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., letter to Chairman Brademas, TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1969 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to call, in room 2257, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. John Brademas (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Brademas, Hansen, Meeds, Gaydos, Steiger, and Landgrebe. Staff members present: Jim Harrison, subcommittee staff director, Nancy Neilen, clerk; Marty LaVor, minority research assistant. Mr. BRADEMAS. The subcommittee will come to order. The Chair, in the first hearing of this subcommittee which he has the honor to chair, wishes to express his appreciation to his colleagues and the hope that in future hearings we shall have the same fine turnout on the part of both majority and minority members. H.R. 8839 and H.R. 908, the bills on which our subcommittee will be taking testimony today and Thursday, represent a bipartisan commitment by 20 Members of the House to take the first step toward developing a national policy for libraries and information science. The proposal to create a permanent National Advisory Commission on Libraries and Information Science stemmed from the report of the President's National Advisory Commission on Libraries which last October completed a study of the library and information needs of the country. In that report, the Commission called for a continuing planning agency, describing it as "the most important single measure that could be taken to develop a national library and information science policy to meet the requirements of the years ahead. Those needs have never been more pressing. The decade just ending has been the most productive 10 years in the Nation's history in terms of the number and significance of educational measures enacted by Congress. We are investing substantial sums of money on the basis of those enactments to bolster and supplement the dollars being made available by State and local public authorities in our school systems. Sharing in this increased investment have been the libraries-school, public, college, and university libraries-which are so fundamental to the intellectual life of the Nation. I certainly will not suggest that we have reached the saturation point in providing financial assistance to our schools or to our libraries. Clearly much will remain to be done to insure that these institutions are equal to the tasks history has thrust upon them. But our willingness to (1) support library and information science facilities and personnel could conceivably soon outstrip our ability to plan and coordinate, to develop, in short, a national policy on the basis of which such assistance could be given. The libraries and information centers of the Nation serve many diverse publics in many diverse ways. School libraries, university and college libraries, research libraries, special-purpose libraries, public libraries, and a host of information science institutions cannot be forced into a single mold. The legislation before us today does not seek to do so. But there are threads running throughout the system which justify the creation of an independent agency to coordinate, to evaluate, and to make recommendations for new administrative and legislative actions by Government in order to make the system ever more responsive to national needs. H.R. 8839 is designed to establish that institution. These hearings are designed to help us improve that bill, and to move. The Chair would like to ask unanimous consent that there be inserted in the hearings the full text of the report of the National Advisory Commission on Libraries and Information Science. (The report referred to follows:) Report of the National Advisory Commission on Libraries LIBRARY SERVICES NATION'S NEEDS toward fulfillment of a national policy ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The appendixes of this Report of the National Advisory Commission on Libraries contain lists of the witnesses who offered testimony and organizations which submitted useful special studies. Many other individuals in one way or another contributed to the efforts of the Commission. It is appropriate here to mention our particular thanks to Dr. Frederick H. Wagman, Director, University Library, The University of Michigan, whose preliminary compilation of written material at the request of the Commission served as indispensable resource for discussions at its final meetings and enabled the distillation of content for the December 1967 preliminary Report and the present Report to be completed within the limited time available. Finally, the Commission wishes to thank the officials and agencies of the Federal Government, whose cooperation has been most helpful from the beginning. |