The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Public Libraries

In studying the origin of the word, "impact, " and successive definitions from Oxford to Webster, I found that it was first used in the sense of binding; later in the more forceful sense of striking or hitting. Webster defines it in terms of contemporary usage as follows: "force of impression of one thing on another, concentrated force pro-ducing change, an especially forceful effect forcing change. " This led me to another technical question. Are we using the word impact in this conference in terms of what it denotes or connotes? In other words, am I to consider the more specific changes or marks of library progress which might be attributed to federal legislation? Or, am I to attempt to point out the forces which are not so clearly denoted but which may be associated with recent federal legislation? One might ask if there is a distinction between the changes in public libraries which have been produced and those which are being forced by federal legislation. This is a fascinating question, and perhaps a related one