policy decisions with respect to telecommunications can greatly affect information practices for many years to come.

A Threshold Issue

Resolution of the complex problem of copyright is crucial to the continuing development of cooperative programs and networks among libraries.

It was the Copyright Law which enabled the United States to achieve for its people the freest, the most uncensored, and the widest dissemination of information in history. Copyright is, in fact, the Constitutionally prescribed means for promoting the progress of science and the useful arts.3 It provides the creator a limited monopoly, not in the ideas, but in the form in which they are embodied.

In recent years, because of the widespread introduction of easy-to-operate copying machines and simplified means for distributing information electronically, the issues relating to copyright protection have grown increasingly complex. If the nation is to maintain the open and free society we enjoy today, with broad dissemination of information, then an updated system of copyright is absolutely essential.

Copyright issues are now before the Congress. An eventual solution must address the "threshold problem" of reconciling the rights and interests of authors, publishers, and other providers of information-in order to encourage the continuing creation and dissemination of their intellectual work-with the interests of the user in obtaining ready access to these works. The judicially constructed doctrine of "fair use" provides only a partial answer to this problem, and new solutions must be worked out which will maintain the economic viability of publishing in the context of new technological means of reproduction and electronic distribution.

The Commission believes that it is essential that the needs of networking systems should be among those considered by the Congress in devising new statutory provisions, and that a sound and clear copyright policy be worked out which retains incentives for those who create and disseminate cultural and intellectual materials.

Workable means must also be found whereby the library community can satisfy its legal and moral obligations to the author and publisher while meeting its institutional responsi

bilities to its patrons. In the meantime, the Commission encourages efforts to clarify the distinction between copying that does not require permission and compensation and that which does. It also encourages efforts to establish means by which permission, when required, be readily obtained. Finally, it encourages efforts to establish cooperative arrangements between libraries and publishers, possibly with the use of computer networks for processing, for obtaining permission or licenses and accounting for usage.

The Rationale for Federal Involvement

While the Federal Government appears to be broadly aware of the part played by libraries and information centers in national growth and economic productivity, the Commission believes that now is the time for the Federal Government, in cooperation with state and local governments, to treat information as a national resource. The Commission believes that the concept of a National Program for Library and Information Services is a highly appropriate focus for governmental action because the concept is designed to blend:

user needs for information that are more pressing
than ever before; with

information technology that is nowhere more strongly
developed than in the United States.

It should be recognized that the United States, though it may now have an unusual opportunity to plan its "information economy," is not alone in this position. Japan, West Germany and other countries have published national papers which attest to the importance of national information policies and networks. Norway has been working effectively for the last few years through its National Office for Research and Special Libraries, and in Great Britain, the British Library Board has made remarkable progress under its recent charter. If we, in this country, fail to link our own resources together nationally so that all can use them, we will be neglecting a very significant contribution that we can make to the quality of our life and the productivity of our people. We may also be missing the opportunity to join other nations in sharing resources on an international level.

the Federal and state governments and the private sector. Such cooperation is most appropriately fostered through Federal legislation that would adopt as its prime philosophical goal equal opportunity of access to the nation's library and information services. Practically, it would seek better organization, development, coordination and management of the nation's libraries and information facilities and services.

the Federal and state governments and the private sector. Such cooperation is most appropriately fostered through Federal legislation that would adopt as its prime philosophical goal equal opportunity of access to the nation's library and information services. Practically, it would seek better organization, development, coordination and management of the nation's libraries and information facilities and services.