The Washington herald., 1921-01-19
BILL PROPOSES
LIBRARY ACT AS
EDUCATION Aid
Would Place Government.
tai Printed Matter
Before People.

On the Senate calendar with a
prospect of early passage is a bill
Toyidiug for an information serv-
-. in the Bureau of Education by
Which hundreds of thousands of
-ssyernment publications would be
slrcuIatsd among the libraries of
~sHe nation.
sLIbraries are especially fitted to
-Pbace government printed matter be-
fore the people, said Senator Nc
Lean, Of Connecticut. before the
senate last Friday, when he explain
ed the bill and it's Importance as
an economy measure. The Boston
1ubIic library" he said. has gov
srnment information service that
mis- a great need and is utilized by
thirty States. One OF the duties Of
the Bureau of Education is to pro-
mote the cause of education
throughout the country and this can
be done in no better way than by
making the people real partners in
the government by providing them
with the means of becoming &C
Quainted with government affairs.
=, Record Is Stranger to Many.
In appearing sometime ago before
the Senate Committee on Education
and Labor in behalf of the bill, Miss
Edlth Guerrier, a librarian OF twen-
~ vaaraf pNpar riPnre said.
q'-'The reason l am here is because
IL was my great privilege to con-
duct a library information and ex-
hibit service for the American food
administration for sixteen months
and a general government library
Information service for the Depart
meut Of the Interior for six months.
RfErettable as 1t may seem not one
librarian in a thousand thinks she
has time to read the Congressional
Record Not one in fifty has ever
seen 1t. l believe this great booklet
should be on the subscription list
OF every library. As to Congress
StOnal hearings and committee re-
ports. librarians for the most part
never see these documents which
frequently result in the enactment
OF laws by which our country is
governed. At present there is no
way for a librarian to find out cur
rent information of such value. II
she could write the service provided
for in this bill it would place that
office in touch with her interests
and her patrons.
Would Create Service.
The bill would create in the
Bureau Of Education a service to be
called the division of library serv-
fee in charge of a director whose
salary would be $4,000 a year, with
an assistant director at $4,000, q
C1Tef clerk, $1,000, a stenographer
$500, another stenographer at ST.
900, a messenger at $500, and not
more than $500 annually for ex-
perts and employees outside the Dis
trict Of Columbia.
1T would be the duty OF the di-
vision to increase the efficiency oi
,American libraries by providing all
current Information concerning gov
ernment activities, to collect and
Organize information regarding
printed matter and make available
to- the Libraries the sources Of such
Information. The information wouIc
Include digests and suggestions.
g " hen a central information Of,
flee is established to connect oul
printed resources and the libraries
Where one publication may serve
hundreds of readers, there will moi
be a waste of 100000 publications
a year at an annual loss of more
b than twsnty-three times the yearly
sum our library service would cost
For $4,000 a year a central Office
would route authentic government
Information to more than $4,000, ,O0C
people. save from waste thousands
of dollars worth of printed mat.
ter and place at the disposal o.
the government the services Of 90,
600 library workers and also the
necessary housing and furnishing
equipment easily worth millions oil
dollars"