The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Governmental And Special Libraries

It has become increasingly obvious that libraries today cannot \nprovide adequate service under conditions of local self-sufficiency. \nA variety of programs are required on the national level which cannot \nbe provided by individual libraries or combinations of libraries. Few \nlibraries can justify or afford the massive resource development \nwhich has been a responsibility of such institutions as the Library of \nCongress, the National Agricultural Library and the National Library \nof Medicine. None can finance the very expensive and complex bibliographic \nservices provided by these national libraries. And practically \nnone of our non- governmental libraries are in a position to \nassume leadership in implementing national bibliographic programs \nin the years ahead. These are the general reasons why our governmental \nlibraries and the attendant legislative authorization are so \ncritically important to the entire scholarly community. \nIt is not the purpose of this paper to consider the detailed development \nof our governmental libraries or library legislative history. \nIt would be accurate to say that in the past this development \nhas taken place under uncoordinated circumstances, frequently in response \nto ad hoc situations. There was certainly no grand design or \nmaster plan to shape the future. \nThis does not imply that librarians were limited in their vision \nor lacked the capability for basic planning. It is more a reflection of \nthe fact that, at the Federal level, there has not been sufficient political \nsupport to allow more than one step being taken at a time.