This paper examines the functions and services of public, academic, special, and school libraries; identifies similarities and differences that might exist among them; looks at basic functions and how they relate to the characteristics of the library's clientele; determines to what extent the services have been cost-effective; and explores…

The unresolved aspects of access that were handled in the "Report of the Commissioner of Education's Committee on Library Development, 1970" and the "Report of the Commissioner of Education's Committee on Direct Access, 1974" are discussed. Travel distance to libraries providing reference and referral, interlibrary loan, and…

Examination of several library legislation models developed to meet the needs of developed and developing nations reveals that our traditional notion of the library's role in society must be abandoned if we wish to reconcile its benefits to its costs. Four models currently exist: many nations, particularly Asian, have no legislation; most nations,…

Associations of special libraries in Hungary are being developed to provide universal availability of published works on a national and international level. While most library legislation recognizes considerations, concerns of document security, copyright, reprography and computerized services are also matters of legislative importance,…

Under a grant from the Illinois State Library, a manual was prepared in 1973 as a reference guide for 18 library systems to use in their five-year planning and evaluation programs. The manual explained the Context, Input, Process, Product (CIPP) model. The 18 libraries used this model in various ways and reached different stages in the…

Librarians may most effectively promote library legislation needed to further the goals of libraries and library service through legislative lobbying activities. The legal basis for library legislation exists in the undisputed fact that libraries are agencies of learning and therefore merit the same legislative attention as schools. The most basic…

To be effective with the public, librarians should develop communication skills, should be accepting of their communities, and should be sensitive to the client's need for status. Previous International Federation of Library Associations guidelines have stated service standards for ethnic communities with greater than 500 residents, but more…

Most countries have school legislation, and many have library legislation; however, in very few is school library legislation found. It is noteworthy that school libraries are the weakest in many library systems. There is a strong case to be made for a legal requirement that library services be established in all recognized schools and vocational…

This report describes the current activities and future priorities of the Ceylon National Library Services Board, which was set up in 1970 for planning and developing library services on a national scale. Among other functions, the board is concerned with establishing the Ceylon National Library, promoting the development of library education and…

An aspect of library legislation which is generally ignored is legislation that promotes the utilization of academic libraries to maximize the potential of a nation's resources. From the available literature it would seem that library legislation in developing nations still conforms strictly to the traditional view that library legislation should…

A velcro board presentation of an input-output model, illustrating the public library as a community information system, can be used to define the library to citizen taxpayers. The major input to the system is tax dollars and its basic components are librarians, recorded information, facilities, and equipment. The output depends on the library's…

This paper describes a decision making framework for library networking which can be used by individual libraries, groups of cooperating libraries, or centralized services to evaluate current operations and define alternative approaches to automation and networking. It is noted that networking has not yet achieved its full potential because of a…

The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science was created in 1970 as a coordinating and planning agency of the United States Government. In order to gain knowledge of the needs and views of library users throughout the country, the Commission conducted a sereis of regional hearings and supported four research studies. As its major…

In 1973, the Technological Institute Library, along with the other science libraries of Northwestern University, began a study of reference use. For each reference request received in the libraries, the date, time, duration, mode, class of question, and user type were noted. These statistics were tabulated and analyzed by computer. It was…

Statistics are basic to the legislative process and must be available in a form quickly and easily perceived to support library legislation. There should be a sound statistical base, fleshed out with practical examples, to impress legislators and lay persons. Communication of statistical data to decision makers requires a sound public information…