Chapter V

The Recommended National

Program

At present there is no national program of library and information service for the development of Federal, state and local library, and other information activities in the United States. As a result, existing programs are generally unrelated to one another and continue to develop throughout the country in uncoordinated ways. In some cases, this tends to lead to incompatible systems and counterproductive activities. For this reason, the Commission believes the time has come to ensure that future development of the nation's information resources will occur in a cohesive manner according to a national plan. The National Program proposed by the Commission represents an overall structure within which current deficiencies can be corrected and future requirements can be addressed. The program is designed to be evolutionary and does not pretend to solve all of the problems besetting today's library and information world, but it does set forth certain objectives which can guide its development and improvement in the years ahead.

The National Commission is firmly committed to the continuation of categorical aid as part of the National Program. Although past Federal funding achieved many worthwhile objectives, the results fell short of the original goals, and much more remains to be done. The proposed National Program would coordinate and reinforce all Federal efforts to support local and specialized services and, at the same time, provide a national framework for planned, systematic growth of library and information services in the public and private sector.

Program Objectives

Objective 1. Ensure that basic minimums of library and information services adequate to meet the needs

of all local communities are satisfied.

find information. Unless local systems, therefore, are strong, and are supported by continuing, aggressive, and dynamic leadership, they will be ineffective members in any program of nationwide scope. The sharing of resources is no remedy if resources are inadequate at the local level. Strong systems need strong components. It is, therefore, imperative that the National Program provide that local communities attain certain basic levels of service and materials, and that their human resources are also strengthened. Only when local resources have been strengthened can resource sharing and other joint efforts lead to successful networking arrangements at state and national levels. Major existing legislation relating to libraries and education for librarianship (Library Services and Construction Act, Titles I, II, III and IV; Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title II; Higher Education Act, Title II; and the Medical Library Act of 1974) has accomplished a great deal, but it is the Commission's view that Federal support in the form of categorical aid is still needed, and that every effort should be made to expand and retain it. A revised and strengthened LSCA is a major priority for 1976.

Objective 2. Provide adequate special services to special constituencies, including the unserved.

There are large user constituencies which require services and materials of a specialized sort. Such groups include the poor, the illiterate, the blind, the visually and physically handicapped, the ethnic minorities, American Indians on reservations, the very young, senior citizens, inner city youths, migrant workers, the institutionalized, and many other parts of our society. The Commission believes that all people have a “right to read" and that the Federal Government has a responsibility to help them.

In accordance with the Commission's goal that every individual in the United States must, through the local community, be given equal opportunity of access to the resources needed at the time they are needed, the National Program must ensure that those people requiring specialized services get them.

A large segment of the population is economically disadvantaged. Many cannot read. Yet, libraries could change in such ways as to help them through outreach programs, and could serve as sources of information on welfare, health, employment, education, literacy, and other social problems.

The number of people belonging to ethnic minorities in this country is very large-about 40 million Black Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Many of these people have no library or information services at all, and where such services exist, the personnel who operate them are sometimes perceived as insensitive and unresponsive.

The more than six million blind and physically handicapped persons in the United States need materials in a special format. The National Commission commends the Library of Congress, Division for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, for its dedicated work in this area, and regards it as critical that its work be continued and expanded. Specifically, the Commission recommends that added efforts be made to seek out and serve those eligible for the service; utilize more effectively the limited resources available, considering the expense and time consumed in the production of embossed and recorded books and periodicals; increase the quantity and quality of available materials, taking advantage insofar as possible of new technological advances in the production of braille and music braille; and implement plans for the computerized National Union Catalog of embossed and recorded materials. Attention should also be directed toward the continued increase in the number of appropriate circulation outlets, so that handicapped persons may be served more adequately by their local libraries; further development of the multistate service, centralized cataloging, storage and distribution centers, development of more efficient interlibrary loan techniques; and the promotion of cooperation and communication among participating libraries and agencies.

The Commission is aware of and very much concerned about the unique library and information needs of the American Indian and the responsibility of the Federal Government toward meeting these needs. In its treaties with Indian tribes, the Federal Government undertook an obligation to provide adequate education to Indians on their reservations, which includes a concomitant obligation to provide complementary library materials and services. There are still many people on reservations who speak or understand English with difficulty.

The provision of bilingual materials is, therefore, very important. Equally important is the need for suitable library training programs for Indians at both the professional and paraprofessional levels. Libraries must be the institutions which provide information to the community, and Indians need Indians to serve them. Because American Indians pay no taxes while living on the reservation, they do not qualify for matching funds, and have remained outside the mainstream of past Federal funding for libraries. The new National Program must provide a workable base for assistance and ensure that Indian reservations are tied into the proposed nationwide network.

The Commission believes that service to specialized constituencies ranks very high in the scale of priorities for the National Program. Every person in America, regardless of his or her economic, cultural or social situation, has the same right of access to knowledge. New legislation would underscore this principle and provide a channel for assessing the requirements of special constituencies and taking appropriate action.

Objective 3. Strengthen existing statewide resources and sys

tems.

Not all states are at the same level of library and information service development. Some states have well-developed programs; others function at less-well developed levels; and still others have no statewide programs at all. Because the states are the essential building blocks in any national information system, it is important that they all attain minimum levels of proficiency and strength as parts of a nationwide program.

Most states do not yet provide sufficient funding to their library and other information activities. The proposed National Program of Library and Information Services would provide formula-matched funds to the states to help them attain certain minimum requirements with respect to materials, services, and staffing. In time this should enable their libraries, at the local level, to satisfy the vast majority of everyday information demands generated by the people within the state. The National Program would also assist the states in forming intrastate networks compatible with the one constructed for national use. The state networks would provide local libraries access to required materials in other parts of the state or out of

It is the view of the National Commission that any new National Program should rest on the understanding that the Federal Government would fund those aspects of the National Program that are of common concern nationally, in return for a commitment on the part of the states to accept, in cooperation with the local governments, a fair share of the responsibility for funding libraries within their own jurisdictions. Federal legislation would spell out the obligations to be assumed by the states when joining the National Program, describe the services they would receive in return, and set forth general matching fund criteria for development of the intrastate parts of the National Program. (cf. Responsibilities of the State Governments, page 61).

Objective 4. Ensure basic and continuing education of personnel essential to the implementation of a National Program.

The development of adequate human resources for library and information service has been one of the Commission's concerns since its inception. In its 1971-1972 Annual Report, the Commission made the point as follows: "It is important that those giving service in libraries and information centers be qualified for their work. Poor help in identifying and locating information is bad for the user and will ultimately damage the organization that provides the inadequate service.”

The successful implementation of an all-encompassing nationwide program depends largely on whether or not the staffing and resource needs of libraries and information centers are adequately met. The program must have people in it who are competent, sensitive to user needs, and able to employ new techniques. This is especially true in service to minorities, the disadvantaged, those with a language other than English spoken in the home, the homebound, the blind, and the physically handicapped. The quality of training, the appropriateness of that training to existing and changing conditions, and the attitudes of those who serve can make or break programs and provide satisfaction or discontent among those served.

The domain of library and information science is inter