Graduate School of Library Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Abstract
It has become increasingly obvious that libraries today cannot
provide adequate service under conditions of local self-sufficiency.
A variety of programs are required on the national level which cannot
be provided by individual libraries or combinations of libraries. Few
libraries can justify or afford the massive resource development
which has been a responsibility of such institutions as the Library of
Congress, the National Agricultural Library and the National Library
of Medicine. None can finance the very expensive and complex bibliographic
services provided by these national libraries. And practically
none of our non- governmental libraries are in a position to
assume leadership in implementing national bibliographic programs
in the years ahead. These are the general reasons why our governmental
libraries and the attendant legislative authorization are so
critically important to the entire scholarly community.
It is not the purpose of this paper to consider the detailed development
of our governmental libraries or library legislative history.
It would be accurate to say that in the past this development
has taken place under uncoordinated circumstances, frequently in response
to ad hoc situations. There was certainly no grand design or
master plan to shape the future.
This does not imply that librarians were limited in their vision
or lacked the capability for basic planning. It is more a reflection of
the fact that, at the Federal level, there has not been sufficient political
support to allow more than one step being taken at a time.published or submitted for publicatio
