mission's request for testimony reveals a corps of highly motivated persons who are eager to listen, contribute and respond to Commission leadership. No other group has attempted to fill the role of national information service planner though some have had a major influence on library progress. NCLIS was seen as a body of national influence beyond the authority presently delegated to it. Witnesses were clear that they look to the Commission for leadership and asked it to design and sponsor the legislation to provide quality library and information service and equal access to it for citizens across the nation. In doing so, many witnesses reiterated the urgency of the charge given to the Commission by the Public Law under which it is constituted. The proceedings of these hearings are important to the Commission and to others interested in current data on the problems of obtaining information through libraries and information services. To make the testimony widely available, the Commission has announced its availability in toto through the Educational Resources Information Center. The written testimony submitted for the first hearing in Chicago has also been published in a volume entitled "In Our Opinion" by the Illinois State Library, Springfield, Illinois. It is not possible to present here an adequate summary of the opinions expressed in more than one thousand pages of thoughtfully prepared testimony. An attempt is made to highlight the testimony that the Commission has found important for its further evaluation and consideration. The comments follow, in general, the framework of the Commission's activity in six areas: 1. The information needs, desires and demands of users and socalled "nonusers." 2. The adequacies and deficiencies of current library and information services. 3. The problems of funding all categories of information service. 4. The introduction, testing and use of new technology of storage, retrieval, copying, transmission and preservation for recorded information including audio-visual materials. 5. The selection, training, assignment and continuing education of persons employed in the information industry. 6. The development of intrastate and interstate networks for information services including collection development, bibliographic processing and access, question-answering reference work and access to text and data. **** 1. Information needs, desires and demands of users One of the notable differences between the findings of the 1968 National Advisory Commission on Libraries and the testimony of the current hearings is the diversity of individual needs laid before the Commission. No longer do libraries serve only a small homogeneous population as was reported to the Advisory Commission. The poor, the isolated, the institutionalized, the foreign speaking, the children in nursery schools and the aged in nursing homes, the researcher in his office and the student in his lab are beginning to be served from information resources delivered in many ways. Librarians and information scientists-and the officials who back them-voiced their basic desire to provide equal access to the nation's information resources for all citizens. They asked the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science to plan a means by which it can be brought about. The needs of scholars, scientists and businessmen, among others, are somewhat different from those of most urban citizens. Where the latter's needs are for general information and individualized service, the needs of the specialist are more particularized. They want a specific publication. Their need is to locate and obtain a copy quickly. Interlibrary loan networks and automated data bases sometimes provide these services. Witnesses asked NCLIS to give attention to the need and demand for these services as a part of their study of user's needs. Balancing services to satisfy needs is very difficult. The problem is faced in every library; it is particularly poignant in the venerable libraries of major cities. These libraries, whose resources are called upon to answer the needs of expanding citizen subgroups (including the business and research needs of industry and scholarship) and whose collections are sought for rare or unique items by people across the nation, have become nationally important resources that receive only local support. Likewise, university and certain special libraries are called upon to serve the general public as well as their own clientele without supplementary compensation. The Commission received extensive testimony on the needs of still other special groups: children, businessmen, minorities, the aged, lawyers, doctors, technicians, prisoners, the handicapped, the retarded and people of identifiable ethnic background. All require materials by and about their own kind in their own language. They also need a responsive information staff who will understand their differences and energetically provide the services satisfying to that group. The most often mentioned user need was that for public information of all kinds. Respondents wanted libraries to be able to inform citizens of the laws and codes under which they live (including proposed changes to laws), the requirements and procedures pertaining to social services, the names and programs of candidates for office, governmental reports and citizen group findings and information on charitable institutions and social organizations. They wanted better information on courses of study offered in local schools and on scholarships available to local students. Concern was expressed that as libraries become increasingly complex the patrons find the diversity of materials, formats and services increasingly difficult to use. It was suggested that study should begin with the question, "How do people find what they do find?" NCLIS was asked to assure the planning of the special services that are needed to aid the uninitiated user to find what he wants. 2. The Adequacies and Deficiencies of Current Libraries and Information Services New standards are necessary, witnesses said, before a reliable assessment can be made of the adequacies and deficiencies of present services. Because present standards are based on quantitative measures, many witnesses urged the Commission to establish new ones by which the quality of information services can be judged. New standards for information services should enable benefits to be evaluated in terms of costs. Respondents discussed accreditation of libraries based on standards and the effects of rapid changes in other institutions on the needs for information service and the possibility that social indicators might be determined which would point to needed changes in information services. Inadequate assessments notwithstanding, deficiencies in present services were discussed. Deficiencies in the training of library personnel, problems with automated systems and inefficient patterns of organization are considered in later paragraphs; deficiencies in services are considered here. Gaps and duplications in present services were highlighted by many witnesses who saw the problem from quite different angles. Rural areas, elementary schools and small colleges, especially Black colleges, are the most noticeable locales of deficient service. The low tax base and isolated population of rural areas preclude the building of adequate collections. A strong sense of individualism combined with the low value placed on good information service has, in many places, prevented the regional cooperation that might have provided adequate service. Demographic studies show that today's rural people will be tomorrow's urban patrons. Future demands are being created now. Similarly, the reading habits molded in childhood are those of the adult. The number of school libraries is growing but many are inadequate in terms of staff as well as materials. Small colleges are joining in consortia among themselves and in larger cooperative programs in order to provide their students and faculties access to the materials they need but cannot afford. Community colleges are enrolling students before adequate library resources can be gathered to support their studies. The relationship of school libraries to public libraries received considerable attention in light of certain proposals to combine elementary school and children's public library services. Overlapping services were readily acknowledged. In many towns students make up a large percentage of public library patrons, so large, some claim, that they discourage adult use of the library. Other witnesses pointed to preschoolers and their parents saying that school libraries are not prepared to serve them and to the education-oriented nature of the school library program saying public library services should never be so sharply focused. Some people would improve school libraries and keep them open longer hours to attract student use. They would reserve public libraries for general use. The best library service may, in fact, differ from place to place depending on the strength of its present services, the geographical location of its schools and libraries and other factors. Other testimony spoke of deficiencies in the delivery of services from individual libraries. Buildings and facilities themselves may restrict service. Outgrown buildings, architecturally unsuited to library functions, need to be replaced. Barriers that prevent physically handicapped persons from using the buildings must be removed. The lack of lighting, inside and out, parking facilities and public transportation can also be barriers to use. Meeting rooms, activity centers and cultural programs enhance possibilities for service. Moreover, the library must be open when people want to use it. While public libraries are extending their hours, school libraries lock their doors when school is not in session. Some library loan services are seen as too slow by users even when they are considered to be fast by librarians. Those who testified on these points urged improvement. Some library loan services are seen as too slow by users even when they are considered to be fast by librarians. Those who testified on these points urged improvement. Bibliographic control of periodicals, documents and microforms is inadequate. Much of the tremendous growth in publication is in these forms. Plans are needed to coordinate acquisition, to share in processing costs and to permit the user to have access to the needed materials wherever they may be. In seeking efficient and complete bibliographic control, one witness suggested that there may be optimum size fields for control within larger disciplines dependent on semantics involved in indexing. Present indexing and abstracting services are seen as prohibitively costly for many libraries trying to provide research resources. Costs continue to rise though service is slower and coverage less adequate. Several services index the same journals for different clienteles yet there are overall gaps in coverage. Witnesses complained that the indexing of government publications is both inadequate and incomplete and that delivery services for Federallygenerated materials is frustratingly slow and very often inaccurate. NCLIS influence to improve these services was repeatedly solicited. A corollary to this problem lies in the physical preservation of present resources. Deterioration resulting from acid content in the paper used in library publications is endangering future use. Decisions must be made on what is to be preserved and where it is to be stored as well as the method to be employed for preservation. The need to build the public image of the library as a source of vital services was often proclaimed in testimony. Strong public relations impact was reported in only a few areas, notably where libraries were in dire financial straits necessitating the curtailment of services. Wherever outraged citizens and friends of the library rallied to mount campaigns to generate public interest and influence controlling governmental bodies, the result was generally effective. The effectiveness of the approach was made clear in oral and written testimony. Except in times of crisis, public information campaigns are too expensive for most libraries. Television and radio are the most effective message media and the most expensive. Both make time available to public interest organizations, but requests are multitudinous and the time available relatively short. Pamphlets, posters and news releases remain the best media libraries can afford. Witnesses hoped that NCLIS would inspire a national media campaign to be paid for by a national body and cooperate with the American Library Association in endorsing a White House Conference that would place library problems before the public with as salutary an effect as the recent conference on behalf of the elderly. Less formal and less costly but perhaps the most effective longterm public relations are accomplished by the participation of librarians and trustees in the activities of the community they serve. Services become known and relationships established as library staff are seen and accepted by the community. Yet nonuser testimony at one hearing revealed that neither businessmen nor blue collar workers knew that the service they said they wanted already existed. Promotion of the library to the public it serves may be a perennial area of deficiency. **** 3. Funding Problems of Libraries The financing of library services was the most discussed issue in the hearings. Witnesses made it obvious that present methods of public library financing are uncertain and inequitable and that they generally produce inadequate funds for quality library service. There were urgent pleas for the Commission to make a comprehensive study of library financing and to provide recommendations for solution of financial problems. The Federal Government was seen as the best source of funding for many of the library and information service programs proposed |