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Preface

In June 1973 the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) voted to direct its energies toward the preparation of a document describing a broad outline of a National Program for Library and Information Services.

After the first draft of the document was prepared, it was widely circulated throughout the library information community to solicit criticisms, suggestions and new data. On the basis of initial reactions, together with the additional work accomplished concurrently by the Commission, a revised document was developed and a new feedback cycle was initiated. The present document is the result of the feedback process. It seeks to provide a framework on which the library and information science professions and the American public will be able to construct a National Program for Library and Information Services for the people of the United States. It reflects comments received by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science in hundreds of letters from organizations, private individuals, testimony given at many regional hearings throughout the country, and opinions gathered at seminars and open forums conducted through the professional societies.

In this document can be found the basic justification required to substantiate the need for a National Program and for new Federal legislation. The Commission expects to recommend Federal legislation starting in 1976. That year, when we celebrate the 200th anniversary of this nation's independence, will be a most appropriate time to inaugurate a National Program for Library and Information Services that realizes the potential of the information revolution now underway.

Users of information, the American citizens, have been paramount in all of the Commission's deliberations. The proposed program aims to increase each person's access to the nation's rich knowledge resources.

The Commission is aware that the adoption of new infor mation techniques requires careful planning, patience and a great deal of cooperative effort by many people. To assist it in perceiving the problems of transition, the Commission sought the advice and guidance of many specialists in different

fields. Their monographs on various relevant topics and issues are listed on page 85 for the reader's reference.

It should be stressed that this National Program Document has no official status. It sets forth the Commission's conclusions and goals for action which can be taken toward the formulation of a national policy. Its realization depends upon the approval of the Congress and the President, state legislatures and officials, all those responsible for and interested in library and information services, and, ultimately, upon the support the program receives from the United States citizenry. The members of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science join me in thanking all those who have assisted in the development and revision of this National Program Document. This document is a dynamic, long-range plan and, as such, will undergo constant scrutiny and revision. It is our intention to issue a revised edition of the National Program Document within two years. We welcome your continuing suggestions and constructive criticism.

I wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions and efforts of the members of the National Commission in the development of this document, especially the Commission's National Program Committee consisting of, in addition to myself, William Baker, Carlos Cuadra, Leslie Dunlap, John Lorenz, Bessie Moore, and Joseph Becker, Chairman. Special thanks and appreciation must go to Mr. Becker for assuming the major responsibility for drafting the National Program Document. I am also appreciative to Roderick Swartz, formerly Deputy Director of the Commission, for his help in preparing the second draft, and to Alphonse F. Trezza, Executive Director of the Commission, for his efforts in the revision and preparation of the third draft and the final manuscript.

Frederick Burkhardt
Chairman
May 1975

Introduction

The National Commission views authors, publishers and librarians as the principal participants in the production and dissemination of the intellectual and technical knowledge which powers our national development and nurtures our educational system. They are component parts of a national knowledge resource * that must be strengthened, integrated and sustained for all the people of the United States to use as needed in the course of their personal and economic pursuits. National concern for protecting and improving the nation's knowledge resources is evident in many past actions of the Congress and in the growing number of legislative proposals calling for specific information programs. The Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Branch of Government has also stressed the need for orderly growth and wise management of library and information facilities within the Federal Government.

If our nation is to achieve the most effective use of national information resources and the largest return for funds invested in them, common goals, objectives, methods and standards are needed now for the coordinated development of information facilities. Unless a coordinated program is established on a nationwide level, expenditures, facilities, and efforts will be unnecessarily duplicated, and interconnection will become increasingly difficult as local, state and multistate systems develop without benefit of a common purpose and a common approach.

The Commission believes that the existing pattern of libraries serving limited geographic areas or various special interests will lead to costly, uneven and wasteful services if steps are not taken now to provide a firm foundation for their future development. Accordingly, the Commission believes the time has come to develop a nationwide program which would weld together today's collection of disparate parts into a nationwide system of library and information services.

Essentially, the National Program formulated by the Commission is based on five major assumptions:

* The word "knowledge" in this document is used interchangeably with the word "information."

First, that the total library and information resource
in the United States is a national resource which
should be developed, strengthened, organized and
made available to the maximum degree possible in
the public interest. This national resource represents
the cumulated and growing record of much of our
nation's, and indeed, much of the world's, total cul-
tural experience-intellectual, social, technological,
and spiritual.

Second, that all the people of the United States have
the right, according to their individual needs, to
realistic and convenient access to this national re-
source for their personal enrichment and achieve-
ment, and thereby for the progress of society.

Third, that with the help of new technology and with
national resolve, the disparate and discrete collections
of recorded information in the United States can
become, in due course, an integrated nationwide
network.

Fourth, that the rights and interests of authors, pub-
lishers and other providers of information be rec-
ognized in the National Program in ways which
maintain their economic and competitive viability.

Fifth, that legislation devised for the coherent devel-
opment of library and information services will not
undermine constitutionally-protected rights of per-
sonal privacy and intellectual freedom, and will pre-
serve local, state and regional autonomy.

The National Program derives from regional hearings held throughout the country, and from conferences, informal discussions, and correspondence with professional, technical, governmental, educational, and other experts, as well as with library users, whose interests in the emergence of an informationcentered program attracted them to the work of the Commission. The Commission's working philosophy is user-oriented. It is the Commission's intent that the user of information— including potential, as well as current users-should be the principal focus of a National Program.

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