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Education has historically been of importance and, in comparison with the U.S. overall, Indiana citizens attend school for more years. Libraries are and important factor in Indiana's economy and education.

Nevertheless, testimony before the Legislature in 1966 indicated that over half of Indiana's elementary schools had no library facilities, and that only 20% of the secondary school libraries met the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary School standards. This situation continues to be a problem.

Indiana has a tradition of independence from Federal control; during 1956 to 1966 controversy arose over use of Federal library aid. In 1961 these funds were used at the State level, but many local boards continue to have a sincere and genuine fear of Federal control.

Indiana also has held tenaciously to units of government created in a rural society and this has influenced library development. After much debate, a county library law was passed in 1917, but only 20 county libraries were formed over the next three decades; 47 counties out of 92 counties now have such service.*

The map in Figure 1 shows where we stand now. of the 1,008 townships in Indiana, 679 are totally served by free public library service, 29 are partially served, and 300, or 29.9%, have no free public libraries. Within this unserved area, approximately one-fourth of the State geographically, 496,000 people reside. Library service is partially

* To conserve space, sources of statistical data and other references are not given. Interested readers should consult the full COBICIL Report for further details and footnote citations. Derivations of estimates are also explained there.

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provided by county libraries, now available in 47 counties, leaving portions of the remaining 45 counties without service. Service problems have also been compounded by emigration from cities to formerly rural areas that are now suburban housing developments outside the library's taxing district. This "rural" unserved population increased from 397,000 in 1970 to 452,000 in 1972. This trend is quite apparent in areas around such cities as Frankfort, Huntington, Jeffersonville, Kokomo, Marion, Muncie, Peru, and Wabash, which are industrial communities with few home sites left within the taxing district. Consequently, more affluent citizens, who by virtue of education or their careers are natural library patrons, are moving beyond the library's taxing district.

Indiana has a long, interesting, and innovative library heritage. Much has been done. Much remains to be done. The COBICIL Study is part of this continuing effort.

Library Funding and Budgets: An estimated $74,400,000 is spent annually on Indiana's libraries. The expenditures for libraries, by type,

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This annual expenditure, by budget item, is dis

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Figure 2 shows how library funds are expended by type of library.

Although Indiana public libraries receive a relatively high per-capita support on the average

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($5.06 from taxes per capita), the small population base of many libraries makes for meagre budgets, especially in a period of inflation. While some Indiana libraries have budgets ranging from half a million to several million dollars, the majority operate on a modest level.

COBICIL data show that, during fiscal 1972, half of Indiana's public libraries spent less than $4,400 for books and other materials, less than $11,489 for salaries, and less than $7,755 for all other expenses. Half of the school libraries spent less than $1,994 for books and materials, less than $9,300 for salaries, and less than $400 for all other expenses.

Data for college and university libraries indicate that half spent less than $38,665 for books and materials, less than $62,000 for salaries, and less than $15,900 for all other expenses. For special libraries, the comparable figures are: $6,172 for books and materials, $18,500 for salaries, and $2,500 for other expenses.

Staff Resources: As shown above, salaries are the largest library budget item. A number of experts contend that service industries, such as libraries, are highly sensitive to rising manpower costs. During the past three years, salaries absorbed 59.3% of the total budget increases received by Indiana's public libraries. However, this increase was barely in line with cost-of-living increases (public libraries spent 8.6% more for salaries from 1970 to 1971 and 9.2% from 1971 to 1972). Therefore, it is perhaps safe to infer that, in many libraries, staffing is in a "holding" pattern and that library manpower in the State will not increase dramatically over the next few years.

Overall, the ratio of professional to non-professional staff (1 to 1.5) is much lower than the 1 professional to every 4 or 5 non-professionals recommended by library management experts.

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