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in testimony before the Commission. In fact, Federal funding was often offered as the panacea for all expensive library problems. It was suggested that Federal funds should:

support the nationally important collections and services of large public and private libraries;

subsidize development of appropriate library services to ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged groups;

give special aid to libraries in Black colleges;

provide the large sums necessary to establish a national lending library;

expand the national services of the Library of Congress; and

support the technical research that will lead to improved service.

States vary greatly in their expenditures for libraries as do local governments. One state has eliminated the local tax as a source of public library funding; another plans to do so. Federal funds for libraries were used quite differently in different states; some spent the money for state-level direction and coordination; others used it for new or improved local services. Typically, Federal funds constituted one-half of a rural library's annual budget and about ten percent of an urban library's budget. The sudden loss of these funds was reported as a calamity. Decisions on the distribution of revenue sharing funds-some of which may go to libraries-have been delayed. Library administrators saw little hope of receiving significant amounts of these funds in light of pressing needs for police protection, sewage disposal and tax reduction. Where funds have been allocated to libraries, they have generally been designated for one-time capital expenses.

The principle of requiring matching funds from state or local sources was questioned because it tended to prevent the poorest libraries from participating in Federal grants or else cause them to distort their programs in order to provide matching funds.

The idea that user fees be charged for most services rendered in public libraries was seriously proposed but was abhorrent to many. Respondents called them an unfair form of taxation that would discourage use by those who find the library a means of selfeducation. It was also claimed that fees would be difficult to set and collect. Testimony from commercial information services, however, revealed that there is no shortage of demand for pay-as-you-go work in spite of the fact that it sometimes duplicates services performed without charge in the public library.

Witnesses pointed out that the financial problems of libraries suggest the need for educating library administrators in the art of grantsmanship and politics. While they did not propose that librarians participate in partisan politics, they pointed out that friendly governors and legislators can be effective advocates of library services. Attention, care and the best of information services should, therefore, be provided to these advocates. This point was corroborated in testimony from governors and state librarians.

The Commission heard impassioned testimony on the financial dilemmas faced by large public and private research libraries that serve both a local clientele and persons around the nation who need their unique resources. As cooperative networks increase, so do the costs and the demands for service. Contributions defray some expenses, but they do not pay total costs nor do they compensate for the development of the collections on which new services depend. Privately supported libraries are in particular trouble. Endowments are shrinking and the present tax rules for noncharitable institutions reduce their attractiveness to private donors who might otherwise contribute to support their services.

School libraries are dependent upon the school they serve for their funds. A wealthy school district can afford an inspired library program. A poor district may have no library program at all. Witnesses recommended that the Commission give added support to school libraries and make them viable throughout all school systems. Adequate funding of the school library appears to devolve in part from the value placed on libraries by the superintendent of schools. His (or her) priorities for supporting (nonclassroom) services determine the attitude toward libraries and the share of the funds they receive. Educating the chief school officer to the value of the library in the educational process thus becomes an important task in many communities. The Commission was requested to aid in doing this.

4. New Technology in Information Service

New technological capabilities and the fast growing interest in networking have engendered experimentation with various information systems and resulted in a proliferation of incompatible systems. Computerized networks and data bases have expanded the body of information available to those who need it but access must be made separately to each data base at great expense. In many places the needs do not warrant the expenditure. Witnesses questioned whether experimentation should continue freely or whether perhaps the time has come to emphasize the standardization and coordination necessary to put together a national network. They asked NCLIS to locate or develop programs to reconcile incompatible systems and to build concordances to the indexing and retrieval vocabularies now in use.

Two systems were pointed out as important examples for building

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a national network. The Library of Congress MARC program was highlighted because it developed somewhat differently from others in that the originators set out to develop a standard format for the interchange of bibliographic information first and then converted their records to it rather than the reverse. The Ohio College Library Center, suggested as a possible prototype, was described in detail in testimony. The system has not yet realized its full potential but it has had success in catalog card production and other efforts. Costs for book processing have decreased in member libraries, and staff personnel in those libraries have been freed to perform services for

users.

Testimony revealed that advanced systems are underused, especially by scientists and engineers. Their specific needs for such systems should be explored. It is known that some individuals in government and on the cutting edge of research do not use library systems. Researchers identify exactly the materials they want and request them directly from the source. Government officials and others frequently call someone who might have the needed data when a local library could provide verified data at a lower cost.

In library and information services the computer has not as yet lived up to the promise of the Sunday newspaper supplement pictures of a push-button information dispenser. Witnesses told the Commission that the computer is saving time and money for administrative tasks of accounting and record keeping. It has accomplished little to date that is of benefit to the general reader in his search for current or historical information. Some large data bases are operating successfully on computers; indeed the largest data bases could not be kept up to date or manipulated quickly without a computer. As the costs of the programming required to instruct the computer to perform intellectual tasks are reduced, more services will be provided at remote terminals by computers. Remote delivery of text, an expensive curiosity at present, is likely to be widespread in many areas as techniques for speeding page-image transmission improve and the cost per page of transmission decreases.

That very few libraries are limited to printed materials was made abundantly clear in both written and oral testimony. Audio-visual specialists described multiple means for presenting information in the form most appropriate to the needs of the user and for creating information within the library. Such capabilities appear particularly valuable for students and nonreading information seekers. The role of creator of information is a new one for libraries and not widespread. Capable personnel to direct such programs are few, and the equipment is complex and expensive. A critical source of evaluation would be helpful to cope with the profusion of new and improved devices that continually appear on the market. NCLIS should, it was argued, establish an advisory group for this purpose.

Cable television holds possibilities for developing new library

services and for providing remote access to present services. The channel capacities presently available to libraries are likely to be insufficient for the uses they will find. The public appears unprepared to accept and use cable television for nonentertainment purposes even though it would appear to be an ideal way to extend the services of libraries to rural and otherwise isolated patrons. The expense of a rural cable program might be borne by a kind of administration such as the REA which brought electricity to remote areas. CATV is still in its infancy. Screened images are not perfect, portable equipment for recording is far from light and convenient, and there is a shortage of personnel trained in the necessary technology. But some areas are now experimenting with library programs, and the witnesses who spoke of these experiments reported excitement and pleasure with the results.

One of the greatest needs in the area of technology is not technical but attitudinal. Technology requires a mental outlook that accepts change, particularly mechanical change. Witnesses felt that the tendency to "knock" technology is a result of lack of understanding, a condition that can be improved among librarians through workshops and continuing education courses. But they suggest it could also be improved by the nature of publications relating to technology. A greater emphasis on specific information that relates to familiar situations will foster understanding among working librarians. Witnesses charged NCLIS to help establish a climate in which change can be accepted.

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No resource is more critical to any library or information service than the personnel who serve in it. The quality of their training, the appropriateness of that training to existing and changing conditions, and the attitude of those who serve can make or break programs and provide satisfaction or discontent among those served. This point was made over and over in testimony to the Commission. There are at present more professional librarians available than there are funds to hire them for the work that is to be done. Exceptions exist in a few areas.

The demand for librarians who are members of minority groups exceeds the supply. Qualified technicians to use and maintain automated and audiovisual equipment are hard to find. Many professionals find their training out of date in libraries catering to previously unserved groups, using impersonal mechanized systems and providing services never before considered appropriate to libraries. Rural libraries find themselves unable to afford professional services. The low economic status of libraries affords little incentive for individuals to acquire graduate-level training and then return to a low-paying job. It was suggested that Federally-funded VISTA or Peace Corps type projects might employ the temporary oversupply of librarians in these areas of need.

Times of manpower oversupply present opportunities to improve recruitment and selection procedures. A method is needed to predict manpower demands in time for changes to be made in these procedures and in training activities. Recruitment needs to begin in high schools and community colleges with the projection of an accurate image of today's librarian who is not just the person who "loves books" as is so often incorrectly pictured. Special efforts need to be made among minority groups. Minority staff members need to be seen; jobs and work scholarships need to be made available. Scholarships are expensive, but the schools offering them report that they are a good investment in the future. Library schools must be more selective in choosing their candidates. The suitability entrance test, once discarded as too expensive, could be revised and revived. Candidates with special skills and aptitudes might be selected over those of general acceptability. Size of student populations in library schools should have some relationship to the jobs available when they graduate.

The course content debate in library education continues with each specialty calling for greater attention to its particular needs. The testimony discussion centered on the teaching of materials and library skills vs. theories and applicable techniques—to which might be added later on-the-job training or institutes in special fields. Many spokesmen would establish working libraries connected to library schools in which students could receive practical training. Others said that this is wasteful and insisted that library school should be the beginning of a professional's education and not the sum total of it. The schools themselves continue to re-evaluate the question and some are now considering extending their course to a full two years to cover the new fields and to provide deeper subject knowledge, the lack of which is generally seen as the most widespread of present criticisms.

The library schools reported critical internal problems. Time for research and new course development is "overload” time for most faculty. This makes it difficult for the schools to provide the new opportunities for students that they as well as working librarians would like them to have. Under present circumstances distinguished faculty is difficult to attract and hard to keep. Pay is not competitive with the administrative positions available to faculty candidates. Opportunities for research are few, and funds to support it are unavailable. The present generation of top facuity is now retiring without a rising group to take its place. Witnesses looked to the future with trepidation.

Testimony opinion stated that we are undereducating our leaders and overeducating most of our librarians. It claims undergraduate skill training in library procedures and information retrieval is

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