The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Public Libraries

Kee, S. Janice

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1529 Copy

Description

Title

The Impact Of Federal Legislation On Public Libraries

Author(s)

Kee, S. Janice

Issue Date

1966

Keyword(s)

Federal aid to libraries --United States

Abstract

"The Problems 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 producing 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 is whether we can assume that all the social and economic forces in modern society which affect library development can be analyzed, and that the degree to which federal legislation produces change can be determined. And finally, I have been greatly troubled by the question of whether it is possible to determine the effect of federal legislation on one single type of library without the careful consideration of the interdependence of all libraries. These questions, and perhaps others of equal or more importance, suggest the complexity of the topic assignment. It is immediately obvious that this paper will raise more questions than it answers, and this may be its one useful purpose. It is based on a review of the literature, which is scarce or generally of little relevance, and two opinion surveys, which will be explained as the results are reported. An effort has been made to approach the subject in terms of the forces of federal legislation as they have hit or struck public libraries, as distinguished from a discussion of what has happened as a result of the collisions."

Publisher

Graduate School of Library Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Series/Report Name or Number

Allerton Park Institute (13th : 1966)

ISSN

0536-4604

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1529

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Copyright owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1966.

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