Mr. NORRELL. Do these figures include the special foreign currency item? Mr. MUMFORD. No, sir. Mr. NORRELL. They should be included; otherwise they are not complete. You may proceed with your general statement at this time. GENERAL STATEMENT OF LIBRARIAN Mr. MUMFORD. Gentlemen, I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the needs of the Library for 1961. Realizing that the Congress is working at an ever-increasing tempo, I shall be as brief as possible. The Library has many needs, and it has been, and continues to be, my policy to present budgets intended to meet them gradually. The confidence manifested by the committee in approving last year's request has caused me to redouble my efforts to bring to you only our most pressing requirements. This approach is further dictated by the Library's very serious space problem which will not permit the adding of any but the most urgently needed personnel. This year's estimates propose an increase of roughly 5 percent, or $734,610, of which amount over 40 percent is for the new health insurance program, price increases, ingrade increases, and reallocations, wage-board increases at the Government Printing Office, and for more adequate telephone facilities. SALARIES AND EXPENSES (GENERAL) Under the appropriation "Salaries and expenses, Library of Congress," we are now seeking 20 positions. Eleven of these are not new positions, but have been variously supported up until now by the Free Europe Committee and the National Science Foundation, which agencies have notified us of their intention to withdraw their support. These positions are concerned with service in such essential fields as foreign law, technical reports, and Slavic research where it would be highly inadvisable to suspend operations. Although these positions do not represent a net addition to our work force, it is most important that they be continued. Eight of the other nine positions are urgently needed to improve loan service to the Congress, to handle increasingly complex book acquisitions problems, and to improve the organizing and servicing of Federal looseleaf reports, photographs, and Chinese publications. The remaining position is needed to assure full continuation of the Library's extended hours of service authorized by the committee for 1960. In this connection, I am happy to report that this additional service has been quite beneficial to the scholarly community in carrying on important research, particularly in the field of science and technology. In the first 5 months for which statistics are available, during the hours of extended service only, 31,000 readers were served, over 51,000 call slips were received, and some 4,700 reference questions were answered. COPYRIGHT OFFICE For the Copyright Office, we are asking $9,600 on a nonrecurring basis in order to print a 10-year cumulation of the "Motion Picture Catalog" which already covers the years 1894-1949. If this request approved, the cost will be recovered in part through the sale of the publication. LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE In the Legislative Reference Service, despite our best efforts, we have found it increasingly difficult because of the heavy volume of requests to do the high level of work which the Congress needs and deserves, and to meet deadlines. In 1950, the number of inquiries handled per staff member was 276; in 1959 it was 449. This year it is expected to be even higher. Consequently I am requesting 23 positions for LRS plus $25,000 to permit the employment of additional temporary staff at peak periods. I have concluded that the latter move will result in maximum economy. Rather than add an adequate number of permanent employees on an annual basis, it is wiser, I am convinced, to have a fund upon which we can draw for these peak periods when both more research workers and supporting clerical personnel are needed. Mr. HORAN. That strikes me as a wise move on the part of the Librarian. Mr. MUMFORD. When we get to the justifications Dr. Elsbree will elaborate to a considerable extent. Mr. HORAN. I think that is wise procedure. INCREASE OF THE LIBRARY Mr. MUMFORD. Books are the lifeblood of a library, and to the extent that we fail to get essential materials we compromise both our current and future capacity to render service. More books are being published, in subjects such as science where the rate is estimated to be doubling every 10 years, and they are being published in areas such as parts of Africa that have never before been a substantial factor in book production. Prices of books, like the prices of most commodities, continue to rise. Since the funds for general increase of the Library also cover microfilming, this, too, has become a factor in the need for more money for this appropriation. Microfilming offers the double attraction of preserving deteriorating materials and substantially reducing their bulk. Considering these combined factors of increased output, higher prices, and need for more microfilming, I regard the $100,000 requested for General Increase as reasonable and necessary. BOOKS FOR THE BLIND In providing books for blind readers, as in other fields, we are pursuing a course of steady improvement. This year we are proposing just under $100,000 to increase the annual production of talking book and braille titles and for related purposes. Since we believe that we may be on the verge of a new approach to talking books, we wish to continue a heavy emphasis on research and development as well as on repair of existing machines. The object of this is to maintain present services at a good level, not going overbroad in investing heavily in newer machines that may soon become obsolete because of fundamental changes, and at the same time seeking, through research, those new methods that may revolutionize service to the blind. I am happy, also, to be able to tell you that through a reorganization we are able to forego one of the three positions now in the estimates for the Division for the Blind. Accordingly, $7,500 may be dropped from our request, and the amount for 1961 under heading reduced from $1,718,200 to $1,710,700. STUDY ROOMS For several years, you have evinced interest in the Library's studyroom problem. After last year's hearings, I again conferred with the Joint Committee on the Library in order to try to find a solution to the vexing problem of long-term occupancy of study rooms by nonFederal employees. You are aware through communications from the Joint Committee of the revised basis for use of these facilities. As a consequence, it is with great satisfaction that I am able to report that this situation is now under satisfactory control. SPACE RENTAL PROPOSAL At this point I would like to refer to the amended request that was submitted after the original estimates. It relates to the matter of rental space about which I talked to you and other members of the subcommittee. We will elaborate upon that further, but I will say at this point our situation is so desperately critical that we have felt it necessary to present for your consideration a request for a modest amount of rental space. Mr. NORRELL. You have submitted a budget estimate for that? SPECIAL FOREIGN CURRENCY PROGRAM I come now to a request that should be considered as entirely separate from regular estimates of the Library, namely, the program under Public Law 480. Subject to favorable appropriation action, I have been authorized by the Congress to acquire publications from abroad through the use of U.S.-owned foreign currencies and to catalog, abstract, and to undertake related activities all with a view to placing foreign publications in libraries and research centers in the United States. This program is designed to strengthen research facilities throughout the country and, in that sense, the emphasis is not so much on benefits to the Library of Congress as to other libraries. We have evidence of great interest in, and support from, the learned world for this program. Initially, I am proposing to emphasize book acquisition and cataloging abroad because these functions would be basic aspects of the program and those with which we have had the greatest experience. I do not for a moment underestimate the magnitude of this undertaking, but I believe it is of such great potential value to the welfare of this country that the Library should be willing to undertake it if the Congress provides the funds. The one general proviso which I must emphasize is that of the $2,811,400 requested, $145,200 is for indispensable U.S. dollar support. It would be impossible for the Library to operate only with foreign currencies in the absence of dollar amounts necessary for direction of the program and for related expenses that cannot be met with foreign currencies. In considering this program in relation to our normal requirements, it is also important to keep constantly in mind that this is primarily for the benefit of other institutions, and it therefore cannot be considered as a substitute for our normal requirements. In closing, I want once more to express my appreciation for the unfailing understanding and courtesy with which you have considered our requests and for your generous support of them. EXTENDED HOURS OF LIBRARY SERVICE Mr. Chairman, in regard to the "extended service" that I referred to in my statement, I have here a longer report that I would like to submit for the record. The figures contained therein are more up to date than those indicated in my preliminary statement. (The statement follows:) The extension of evening and Saturday service in the Library's two general reading rooms (Main Reading Room, Thomas Jefferson Reading Room) and in two special rooms (Science and Slavic) has resulted in a sharp increase in the use of these rooms. During the first 6 months of extended service (September 1959 to February 1960), the total number of readers using these rooms increased from 235,451 to 289,689, or 54,238, an increase of 23.3 percent over the same period in 1958-59. Of these 54,238 additional readers, 40,804 came in during the extended service periods. In other words, 75.2 percent of the overall increase occurred in the extended service periods. The greatest use, of course, is in the two general reading rooms where the additional readers amounted to 50,455, representing an overall increase of 22.8 percent, of which the extended service was responsible for the major part (75.8 percent). In the Science Room, readers increased by 33.6 percent; evening use accounted for 78.2 percent of this. The Slavic Room (where, among other materials, current science journals in Slavic languages are served) had an overall increase of 23.8 percent; evening service accounted for 56 percent of this. Call slips in the two general reading rooms also show an appreciable overall increase: 70,056, or 16 percent with 92 percent of the increase as the result of extended service. Reference questions in the general reading rooms declined during the day (probably because of the exclusion of high school students); nevertheless, they show an overall increase of 7.7 percent because of evening service. In the Science Room, reference questions went up 34 percent overall; evening service accounted for 53 percent of this increase. In the Slavic Room reference questions diminished slightly during the day but show an overall increase of 18 percent. Although the extended service was not instituted for the purpose of answering phone inquiries, there has been a slight increase here of 7.5 percent, with nearly half of this attributable to evening service. From the foregoing salient figures, however, it seems obvious that the extended service is being well used. As to the kind of use that is made of this service, the answers to the attached questionnaire are indicative. (This questionnaire was distributed on 15 evenings between February 25 and March 18, 1960.) It appears from the questionnaire (question 2) that the majority of users (59 percent) are from universities, although a sizable group (26 percent) is from the Government. There is related significance in question 3 where the number of people using the Library in connection with Government work is somewhat smaller (10 percent). This seems to indicate that the evening service is being used by Government employees to carry on private research and study as well as their own professional work. A further conclusion, based on question 1, is that a very large number of readers (71 percent) could not have used the Library during the day. If this figure is projected throughout the year, there would be around 58,000 patrons who could not have used the Library were it not for extended service. The subject fields in which these patrons are working (question 4) were largely social and political science (164), history (155), and science and technology (111). In addition, 89 were working in literature, 42 in philosophy and religion, and a scattering in geography, anthropology, education, music, fine arts, etc. 54877-608 In answer to question 5, 644 out of 653 stated that their work had benefited from the extended service. In several cases the readers had not been here long enough to give an affirmative answer. Comments from patrons (question 6) consisted almost entirely of praise for the extended service with many pleas for continuing it and for extending it even further (167). There were some criticism (36) of lights, noise, and other physical factors, but no adverse comments on the extended service. While the experience of 6 months may not be sufficiently extensive to warrant generalizations, the data at hand seem to justify continuing the extended service. The use of the reading room by more than 40,000 additional readers during these 6 months, over 29,000 of whom could not have come in during the day, is impressive. The kind of user (Government employees, research workers, historians, scientists, university professors, and students) and the nature of the work done (historical, scientific, and literary research and study) would suffer greatly if the service were withdrawn. Last year you may recall you requested us to report on the results of this extension of hours of opening of the Library, and this is our report to date. INTAKE OF LIBRARY MATERIALS Mr. NORRELL. We will ask a few general questions before we get to the questions regarding the details. How much material comes to the Library on the average workday? Mr. MUMFORD. I would have to do a little arithmetic on that. We take in roughly 5 million pieces of material a year and of that we add a little less than 1 million to the collections. By "pieces," I mean to include maps, manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, books-all types of material. It is not that many volumes. Dividing that by the number of days of the year, we get roughly Mr. ROGERS. On the average, every minute of the day, 24 hours a day, for 365 days a year, we take in about 10 pieces of material. As Dr. Mumford says, we do not keep all of those. We keep between 15 and 20 percent. NEW POSITIONS REQUESTED Mr. NORRELL. State again how many new positions, all told, you are proposing? Mr. MUMFORD. Fifty-three. That does not include the program for the use of foreign currencies under Public Law 480. Mr. NORRELL. How many would be added if that is included? Mr. MUMFORD. The American citizens would be. Library employees, and although Library employees are not under civil service they are nonetheless Federal employees, but foreign nationals employed in the program abroad would not be. They could not be. MICROFILMING PROGRAM Mr. NORRELL. Are you continuing your microfilming program to save space and preserve materials? Mr. MUMFORD. Yes. Mr. NORRELL. How are you getting along on that? ha I |