College and Research Libraries


ACRL Legislation in 1961 

By E D M O N L O W 

TH E A C R L B O A R D of Directors at the Montreal Conference in 1960 voted 
to promote legislation in the forthcom-
ing session of Congress for federal aid to 
college and university libraries. T h e r e 
were several reasons for this action, 
among which were the declining percent-
age, since the end of World War I I , of 
total institutional incomes being devoted 
to the libraries; the rapidly rising cost of 
library materials, especially of serials; 
the constantly increasing load of avail-
able printed materials from presses here 
and abroad; the greater demands being 
made on libraries by expanded programs 
of graduate offerings and by contract re-
search; and the emergence of many jun-
ior colleges, in an effort to meet the de-
mand for expanded facilities in the field 
of higher education, whose libraries were 
almost nonexistent or greatly in need of 
encouragement which such aid could 
give. 

As president of A C R L at this time, the 
writer, under this directive from the 
board and in cooperation with the Fed-
eral Relations Committee and the ALA 
Washington Office, began to investigate 
the possibility of such legislation—what 
was needed, whether it should be a bill 
by itself or a part of an existing bill, and 
above all what, in the light of the exist-
ing temper of Congress, would stand a 
reasonable chance of passage. Various 
leaders in each House were consulted, as 
well as certain members of committee 
staffs who are often quite conversant 
with attitudes of key people in Congress. 
W e were hampered initially by the fact 
that, when we started work on this, the 

Mr. Low is Librarian, Oklahoma State 
University, and past president of ACRL. 

national election had not been held, and 
so we did not know which party would 
prevail nor who the chairmen or mem-
bers of some committees would be. 

As a result of this investigation, it 
seemed best to limit the bill to aid only 
in acquisition of materials. T h e Con-
gressmen seemed particularly allergic to 
assistance for increasing salaries or hiring 
additional personnel, but almost every-
body seemed to be for books. Also it was 
thought best to make it an amendment 
to an existing bill rather than to at-
tempt to run the whole gamut with a 
separate bill. Consequently the draft 
which is appended was offered as an 
amendment to the National Defense Edu-
cation Act, which was up for extension 
and appeared to offer the best possibility 
for approval. 

T h e difficulties at first were consider-
able—the American Council on Educa-
tion refused to endorse it, saying they 
could not "fragmentize" their program 
by supporting legislation for " p a r t " of 
an institution; the Office of Education 
could take no stand until a new com-
missioner was appointed and the wishes 
of the Administration were known; and 
it was not in the program or budget sub-
mitted by the outgoing Administration. 
Nevertheless, it came surprisingly close 
to succeeding. It was approved first by 
the Senate Subcommittee on Education 
and later by the full Senate Committee 
on Labor and Public Welfare, and re-

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ported to the Senate for action. It would 
almost surely have passed the Senate if 
it had come to a vote; such vote was de-
layed pending House action. T h e House 
Committee on Education and Labor, 
after lengthy hearings on the bill and 
various proposed amendments, trans-
mitted it to the House Rules Committee 
without recommendation on most of the 
amendments, including this one, but 
with the general understanding that in 
the Conference Committee the amend-
ments approved by the Senate would be 
accepted by the House. As is now well 
known, the Rules Committee refused to 
report the bill for House action and, in 
a compromise in the closing days of the 
session, the present Act stripped of all 
amendments was renewed for two years. 
T h e failure of the Rules Committee to 
report had nothing to do with our amend-
ment—it simply went down in the fierce 
battling over other issues. 

T h e progress made, which almost re-
sulted in passage, surprised many around 
Washington and even the ones actively 
working for it. It usually requires a few 
years to build up sufficient interest and 
backing to achieve success—witness the 
decade of work on the Library Service 
Act. T h e credit for this progress was due 
primarily to the prestige of the Ameri-
can Library Association on the " H i l l " 
and to the tremendous personal popu-
larity of Germaine Krettek, director of 
the Washington Office, with key mem-
bers of both houses of Congress. Without 
this, we could never have gotten off the 
ground. 

T e x t of the Amendment is appended. 
It will be noted that it provides for 
matching grants, that aid is available to 
all libraries regardless of size, and in both 
public and private institutions, that a 
floor is provided (Section 1022) for small 
libraries so that reasonable grants can be 
made regardless of past expenditures, 
and that some help is provided in Sec-
tion 1022-2-iii which may be used for 
additional personnel to process added 

acquisitions. W e wish the program could 
have been larger but it appeared to be 
the best which could be had under the 
circumstances. A C R L and the ALA Com-
mittee on Legislation are now consider-
ing what should be attempted in 1962 
and it does appear likely, in the light of 
the 1961 experience and the generally 
favorable attitude in Congress toward 
our program, that some legislation of 
this kind will be enacted within the next 
few years. 

L I B R A R Y A M E N D M E N T T O N D E A 

S.2345 (Report No. 652) a bill to ex-
tend and improve the National Defense 
Education Act of 1958 was favorably re-
ported by the Senate Committee on 
Labor and Public Welfare on July 31, 
1961. Included in the bill is a new T i t l e 
X , which reads, in part, as follows: 

T I T L E X — S T R E N G T H E N I N G S C H O O L L I B R A R Y 

R E S O U R C E S N E E D E D F O R T E A C H I N G AND 

L E A R N I N G 

Part C—Library Grants to Institutions of 
Higher Education 

A P P R O P R I A T I O N S A U T H O R I Z E D 

Sec. 1021. T h e r e are hereby authorized to 
be appropriated $10,000,000 for the fiscal 
year ending J u n e 50, 1962, and for each of 
the three succeeding fiscal years, to enable 
the Commissioner to make grants to insti-
tutions of higher education to assist and en-
courage such institutions in the acquisition 
for library purposes of books (not including 
textbooks), periodicals, documents, and other 
related materials (including necessary bind-
ing)-

G R A N T C O N D I T I O N S 

Sec. 1022. F r o m the sums appropriated 
pursuant to section 1021 for any fiscal year, 
the Commissioner may, upon application 
therefor, make a grant for the purposes set 
forth in such section to any institution of 
higher e d u c a t i o n — 

(1) in an amount not exceeding 25 per 
centum of the amount expended by such 
institution during the fiscal year ending 
J u n e 30, 1961, for books, periodicals, docu-
ments, and o t h e r related materials (includ-

M A R C H 1 9 6 2 1 1 3 



ing necessary binding) for library purposes, 
or n o t less t h a n — 

(A) $1,000 if it provides a two-year 
educational program which is acceptable 
for full credit toward a bachelor's de-
gree; 

(B) $2,500 if it provides an educa-
tional program for which it awards a 
bachelor's degree or a more advanced 
degree; or 

(C) $5,000 if it provides an educa-
tional program for which it awards both 
bachelors' and advanced degrees; and 
(2) if such institution furnishes proof 

satisfactory to the C o m m i s s i o n e r — 
(i) that it will expend, during the 

fiscal year for which the grant is re-
quested, for all library purposes an 
amount not less than the amount it ex-
pended for such purposes during the 
fiscal year ending J u n e 30, 1961, 

(ii) that it will expend, during the 
fiscal year for which the grant is re-
quested, for library purposes for books, 
periodicals, documents, and other re-
lated materials (including necessary bind-
ing) an amount not less than the amount 
it expended for such materials during 

the fiscal year ending J u n e 30, 1961, and 
(iii) that it will expend for library 

purposes during the fiscal year for which 
the grant is requested, in addition to the 
amount required under clauses (i) and 
(ii) above, an amount not less than the 
amount of such grant, and that at least 
50 per centum of such expenditure will 
be for library purposes for books, peri-
odicals, documents, and o t h e r related 
materials (including necessary binding). 

L I M I T A T I O N 

Sec. 1023. N o grant shall be made under 
this part for books, periodicals, documents, 
or other related materials to be used primar-
ily in connection with any part of the pro-
gram of a divinity school, theological semi-
nary, o r other institution, or a department 
or branch of an institution, whose program 
is for the education of students to prepare 
them to become ministers of religion or to 
e n t e r upon some other religious vocation. 

No vote was taken on the bill before 
adjournment, but action is possible in 
the 2nd Session (1962). 

Workshop on Library Binding 
T h e R T S D Bookbinding Committee 

has planned a preconference Workshop 
on Library Binding to be held at Miami 
on Saturday, J u n e 16. T h r e e sessions are 
arranged as follows: 

9:30 A.M.-11:30 A.M. "Development of 
Performance Standards for Library 
Binding," speakers—Frazer Poole, 
ALA Library Technology Project; 
William J . Barrow, W. J . Barrow Re-
search Laboratory; J e a n Karl, A L A -
Children's Book Council J o i n t Com-
mittee on Binding. 

2:00 P.M.-4:00 P.M. A panel discussion 
on mending, repair and pamphlet 
binding, with demonstrations of the 
latest methods and materials. 

8:00 P.M.-9:30 P.M. " T h e Library Bind-
ing Situation T o d a y " : From a Com-

mercial Binder's Viewpoint—Mrs. 
C. W . Gross, Joseph Ruzicka, Inc.; 
From a Librarian's Viewpoint—Jer-
rold Orne, University of North Caro-
lina; From the Viewpoint of a Li-
brary Operating its Own Bindery— 
Kenneth Allen, University of Wash-
ington 

T h e r e will be exhibits by binders and 
library suppliers. Advance registration is 
strongly urged because only 200 partici-
pants can be accommodated. T h e regis-
tration fee is $2.00. Send your check to 
Lilly Carter, University of Florida, 
Gainesville, Florida. 

A separate publication, containing the 
papers presented at the workshop will be 
edited by Frazer Poole and be sent free 
of charge to the registrants. 

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