The funding of rural libraries - Rural Libraries and Information Services

Library Trends, Summer, 1995 by Mark Merrifield

ABSTRACT

FUNDING FOR RURAL LIBRARIES comes from a variety of sources. For the purposes of this article, two funding sources will be discussed: federal and state. Local funding issues are as diverse as the communities in which libraries are located. In the case of rural libraries, all funding sources are critical to their survival. However, the notion of federal and state roles and responsibilities to assist rural libraries is the basis of this article.

THE FEDERAL ROLE--HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

One can argue that the federal role in aiding public libraries began in 1802, the year the Library of Congress was created and, as Molz (1990) says, became the "de facto national library of the United States" (p. 2). Although the Library of Congress, role in providing cataloging information (1901), free matter for the blind and physically handicapped (1931), and MARC data (1969), is of long standing, other federal programs have provided financial and other support to America's libraries in the last 140 years. The Depository Library program began in 1857. Every member of the House or Senate could designate a library in their area to receive publications for free use by the public. Depository libraries are located in all U.S. states and territories. Other examples of federal involvement with libraries include the much-discussed postal subsidies for free mail for the blind and fourth class (library) rates.

The American Library Association (ALA), representing America's libraries and librarians, argued in the past that increases in postal rates, and especially the termination of postal subsidies, would severely limit the public library role in the "mitigation of isolation for many rural readers and for those who are homebound" (Molz, 1990, p. 7). Federal support programs for libraries continue to be argued over by those who wish to see them eliminated, as well as by the library community which sees these funds as vital elements that are needed to extend library services to underserved segments of the population.

THE LIBRARY SERVICES ACT

The first federal public library grant-in-aid program was the Library Serv-ices Act (LSA) signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on June 19,1956. The signing of this act was the culmination of ten years of work by the American Library Association and library supporters across the country. In each of the twelve preceding years, bills were presented in Congress; in 1944, 1946, and 1950 bills supporting federal funding for rural libraries passed the Senate. The 1950 Senate bill reached the House but was defeated by a vote of 164 to 161. It would take five years for supporters to get legislation moving again.

The Declaration of Policy in the Library Services Act states that the purpose of the act is "to promote the further extension by the several states of public library services to rural areas [author's emphasis] without such services or with inadequate services" (Gardner, 1971, p. 196). In the early 1940s, Southern states took the lead in passing state laws that supported libraries. There were few libraries in these states, and those that existed were primarily county libraries in rural areas. State aid helped these rural libraries to grow, and the development of state plans for increasing library services was well underway by the time LSA was passed (School of Library Science, University of North Carolina, 1982). Passage of the act had in fact hinged on the issue of states rights. During the hearings held in 1956, Congress asked the ALA representative if the LSA would have any impact on segregation. The representative replied that there were no racial questions in the bill. States rights were clearly written into the bill which satisfied Southern legislators (School of Library Science, University of North Carolina, 1982). The legislation emphatically encouraged the states to develop their own plans. Alabama authorized an amount equal to twenty cents per capita to be spent from state funds to support public libraries. Clearly the act was not to interfere with state or local initiatives or responsibilities in the conduct of public library services. "The determination of the best uses of the funds provided....shall be reserved to the states and their local subdivisions" Gardner, 1971, p. 196).

Congress appropriated $7.5 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1957. For the next nine fiscal years, this sum remained unchanged. Only states with plans approved by the Commissioner of Education (now the Secretary of Education) would receive funds. The U.S. Office of Education (now Department) established the Federal Library Agency (FLA) in 1938. Created after a successful American Library Association lobbying effort in the 1930s, the agency primarily conducted surveys and provided technical assistance. After enactment of LSA, the agency began to take on the task of grants management (Molz, 1990, pp. 7-8). State library agencies wishing to apply for LSA funding submitted their plans to FLA for approval.