NCLIS: A Decade of
Accomplishment

INTRODUCTION

IN

n July 1970, Congress passed the act which established the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, a permanent independent agency charged with the responsibility to develop and recommend plans for a policy to meet national goals. The "Statement of Policy" in the enabling legislation (P.L. 91-345) states:

The Congress hereby affirms that library and information services adequate to meet the needs of the people of the United States are essential to achieve national goals and to utilize most effectively the Nation's educational resources and that the Federal Government will cooperate with State and local governments and public and private agencies in assuring optimum provision of such services.

With such a mandate the newly established Commission began the first of a continuing series of needs assessments. What were the library and information service needs of the American people? What were our national goals for library and information services? How could we be sure these services would utilize most effectively the Nation's resources?

These questions must be asked and answered over and over again. Yesterday's answer may not fit tomorrow's needs or even today's needs. The process of the ongoing assessment often proves more valuable than the result of any single review. Also, each new assessment helps meet the objectives of the previous one.

The National Commission has undertaken a number of needs assessments, each of which forms a significant part in an ongoing process. One of these was a conference held in Denver, Colorado in 1973 which took some important first steps toward defining the library and information service needs of many special

constituencies in the United states. Another assessment was made through a number of regional hearings held between 1972 and 1975. Subsequently the Commission published Toward a National Program for Library and Information Services: Goals for Action, which became the program document that guided NCLIS efforts for the next five years. A primary focus of the National Program was on the needs of the library and information service profession and organizations. A major assessment was the White House Conference on Library and Information Services, which focussed on user needs and is currently a major driving force behind the Commission's activities. Clearly the framework and the thrust of the Commission's efforts have changed over time as new needs are identified and old ones are resolved or become less important.

Library and information policy development is a dynamic process. The Commission has enthusiastically assumed the leadership role in encouraging the process to continue. During its first ten years, the Commission has been active on a great many fronts in pursuit of its mandate to establish policies that will help ensure that the citizens of the Nation have equal opportunity of access to library and information resources adequate to their needs. It has convened conferences and regional hearings, commissioned task forces and committees-all to meet its mandated responsibilitiy of advising Congress and the Administration.

In the pages that follow is a review of a decade of

accomplishment. The activities and events that are recorded have been assembled under the eight objectives that were part of the National Program Document.* This Document is the only long range national library/information planning tool that has been officially endorsed in principle by all the major library/information services organizations in the Nation. Because of this consensus, NCLIS has used the eight objectives as guidelines for developing its specific programs since 1975. Although their flexibility and lasting value has been evident over the years, the Commission has necessarily changed with the times. New developments and demands have led it into areas not fully anticipated or covered in the original intent of the objectives.

In viewing the Commission's first decade of accomplishment from the perspective of these objectives, it becomes evident that several of them relate to subsequent activities and programs not fully anticipated in the scope of their original intent. This report has, in some cases, expanded on the original scope of the eight objectives to provide a convenient framework for discussion and summary of the Commission's record of accomplishments. A link with appropriate White House Conference themes and resolutions is made at the end of each discussion.

*See Appendix II for a summary of this document.

Ten years from now, when we write about our second decade, the accomplishments will be different but the basic mission will remain the same: The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science serves to advise on plans and policies to best meet the library and information needs of the people of the United States.

OBJECTIVE 1. ENSURE THAT BASIC LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES ARE ADEQUATE TO MEET THE NEEDS OF ALL LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Meeting this objective was one of the earliest concerns of the Commission. During its first year, it awarded three contracts to develop information about present and potential needs; social, economic, and technical requirements; and funding sources for library and information services. On the basis of the results of two of these studies, NCLIS sponsored a comprehensive analysis of user needs, the keystone of which was a conference held in Denver, Colorado in May 1973, to review those needs.

In 1973, a needs assessment was viewed as a critical first step in planning library and information service systems. The report of the Denver Conference stated, "Although the reasons for examining user needs are not hard to state, defining and articulating these needs is a deceptively difficult task. Eventually we must have a continuing system of appraisal... through which the information-providing institutions of the Nation develop and maintain a close and accurate understanding of the ways in which the present and future needs of their constituents can be served.” The Conference became the first of several user needs assessments that the Commission conducted during its first decade.

Also in 1973, a contract was awarded for a study to develop alternatives for financing public libraries. The reports of this study and of the Denver Conference on User Needs were published in 1974. The following year, NCLIS decided to:

(1) prepare a National Inventory of Library Needs updating the 1965 inventory prepared by the American Library Association; and

(2) commission a study of the effectiveness of Federal programs for funding public library services.

These two studies confirmed a number of widely held opinions. While funding for public libraries had doubled in constant dollars during the ten years between the inventories, most of the increase in funding had been borne by local communities, with minor increases in state funding and with the Federal share actually declining. At