College and Research Libraries


B y E U G E N E H . W I L S O N 

Federal Relations Policy of A.C.R.L. 
Dr. Wilson is chairman, A.C.R.L. Policy 

Co mmittee, and director of libraries, Uni-

versity of Colorado. 

THE B o a r d of D i r e c t o r s of A . C . R . L . , m e e t i n g in C l e v e l a n d on J u l y 2 1 , 1950, 
agreed to request the P o l i c y C o m m i t t e e to 

d r a f t a statement of l o n g range policy in 

the area of federal relations. T h i s assign-

ment w a s accepted by the P o l i c y C o m m i t t e e . 

A f t e r s t u d y i n g various matters in this 

area w h i c h w e r e of special interest to 

A . C . R . L . membership, and considering the 

machinery already in existence and assigned 

to consider such matters, the committee sub-

mitted a report w h i c h w a s accepted and 

approved by the board at its meeting in 

C h i c a g o on J a n u a r y 3 1 . T h e m a j o r recom-

mendation of the report is that " t h e general 

l o n g term policy of A . C . R . L . in the area 

of f e d e r a l relations shall be to cooperate 

w i t h and operate t h r o u g h appropriate 

A . L . A . boards and c o m m i t t e e s . " In mak-

ing this recommendation the committee 

pointed out that " n o interests of m a j o r sig-

nificance in this area can be considered as 

being exclusively A . C . R . L . interests. T h i s 

is an area in w h i c h the second cardinal 

policy of A . C . R . L . , 'to make present affilia-

tion w i t h A . L . A . a f r u i t f u l relationship,' 

can be made p a r t i c u l a r l y e f f e c t i v e . " 

I m p l e m e n t a t i o n of this policy to assure 

the most effective results possible is not 

solely the responsibility of the B o a r d of 

D i r e c t o r s and the executive secretary. E a c h 

member of A . C . R . L . must recognize, accept 

and be alert to his responsibilities in c a l l i n g 

to the attention of A . C . R . L . officers any 

m a t t e r s in the general area of f e d e r a l rela-

tions w h i c h should receive attention f r o m 

and action by appropriate committees. 

E x a m p l e s in this area of some of the mat-

ters of special but not exclusive interest to 

A . C . R . L . members a r e : 

1. T h e character of g o v e r n m e n t publica-

tions, distribution of g o v e r n m e n t docu-

ments, the l i b r a r y ' s use of g o v e r n m e n t pub-

lications. 

2. Research p r o g r a m s in the federal field 

w h i c h may involve dependence upon college, 

university and research libraries w i t h the 

related questions of regional libraries, fed-

eral aid and cooperative a r r a n g e m e n t s w i t h 

such federal libraries as the L i b r a r y of C o n -

gress, the A r m y M e d i c a l L i b r a r y and the 

U . S . D . A . L i b r a r y . 

3. M e a s u r e s f o r the protection of the 

holdings of research libraries. 

4. L i a i s o n w i t h f e d e r a l agencies engaged 

in w a r mobilization activities. 

5. T h e N a t i o n a l Science F o u n d a t i o n 

A c t , approved M a y 10, 1 9 5 0 ( 8 1 s t C o n -

gress, P u b l i c L a w 5 0 7 ) . 

6. T h e N a t i o n a l C l e a r i n g H o u s e f o r Sci-

entific and T e c h n i c a l I n f o r m a t i o n A c t , ap-

proved Sept. 9, 1 9 5 0 ( 8 1 s t C o n g r e s s , P u b l i c 

L a w 7 7 6 ) . 

7. R e l a t i o n s w i t h the U . S . O f f i c e of E d u -

cation. 

8. Postal and customs legislation. 

9. Social security. 

10. T h e P o i n t F o u r P r o g r a m . 

1 1 . T h e w o r l d agreement to abolish d u t y 

on publications as approved at the F i f t h 

G e n e r a l C o n f e r e n c e of U n e s c o in M a y -

J u n e 1950. 

\2. S u p p o r t of the L i b r a r y of C o n g r e s s 
in d e v e l o p i n g its services w h i c h have par-

JULY, 1951 
29 7 



ticular significance to libraries throughout 

the nation. 

M o s t of these are not new fields of inter-

est, but the present state of our foreign re-

lations makes numbers 2, 3 and 4 assume 

immediate importance. Numbers 5 and 6 

are important new federal laws which may 

be of great significance to research libraries 

in the years ahead. A review of functions 

of existing A . L . A . committees indicates that 

each of the preceding 12 matters of interest 

can be considered as lying within the areas 

established for the committees. 

T h e function of the A . L . A . Federal Re-

lations Committee is "to consider all matters 

involving federal legislative or govern-

mental action affecting libraries not specifi-

cally assigned to other boards and commit-

tees, to watch federal legislation for matters 

which affect libraries, to further legislation 

in Congress, to protest any undesirable legis-

lation proposed, to seek rulings and inter-

pretations of laws and regulations, and to 

represent the A . L . A . before the federal 

government when necessary." 1 

Examples of "other boards and commit-

tees" of A . L . A . which have been assigned 

to consider matters involving federal rela-

tions a r e : 

1. Public Documents. " T o take cog-

nizance of matters relating to public docu-

ments issued in the United States, whether 

federal, state, or local, and matters relating 

to the official publications of foreign govern-

ments." 

2. Book Acquisitions. " . . . to represent 

the association in negotiations with the book 

trade, and before legislative bodies in con-

troversies relating to price maintenance, 

terms, copyrights, and kindred ques-

tions. . . . " 

3. Statistics. " T o consider uniform an-

1 This and following statements of function of commit-
tees and boards are taken from " A . L . A . Organization 
and Information 1950-51." A.L.A. Bulletin 44:394-
431, November 1950. 

nual report forms and submit recommenda-

tions thereon; to coordinate statistical ac-

tivities of the association and its affiliated 

agencies; to cooperate in statistical matters 

with the U . S . Office of Education. . . ." 

4. Resources of American Libraries. 

" T o study the present resources of Ameri-

can libraries; to suggest plans for coordina-

tion in the acquisition of research publica-

tions by American libraries." 

5. Public Relations. " T o encourage and 

stimulate a sound public relations program 

for all types of libraries. . . . " 

6. International Relations. " . . . to have 

direct supervision of the association's inter-

national activities involving library coopera-

tion. . . . " 

7. Government Publications. " T o con-

sider problems of publishing research re-

ports and of storing materials for distribu-

tion after the war, of acquiring public docu-

ments and expediting their acquisition, and 

related matters."2 

In the area of government publications, a 

majority of the members of the A . L . A . 

Committee on Public Documents are staff 

members of college, university or research 

libraries, and two of the three listed mem-

bers of the Joint Committee on Government 

Publications are university librarians. A t 

the open meeting arranged by the A . L . A . 

Committee in Cleveland on July 18, a 

symposium on federal depository libraries 

was presented, and three of the four par-

ticipants were members of university library 

staffs. T h e January 1951 issue of College 
and Research Libraries published the four 
papers given at the symposium and two ad-

ditional articles dealing with documents. 

T h e 25 pages devoted to these papers repre-

sented over one-fourth of the total space in 

the issue. T h e s e facts seem to indicate no 

need of a special A . C . R . L . committee to 

2 This is a joint committee of A . L . A . , American As-
sociation of Law Libraries, Association of Research 
Libraries, Special Libraries Association. 

274 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



look after the association's interest in this 

area. 

T h e A . L . A . Board on Resources of A m e r -

ican Libraries at present is composed of five 

university librarians, all of w h o m are active 

A . C . R . L . members, and the chairman is a 

past president of A . C . R . L . F o u r of the five 

members of the board also are from libraries 

which are members of the Association of Re-

search Libraries. W h e n A . R . L . at its Feb-

ruary i meeting gave consideration to steps 

involved in mobilization of resources of re-

search libraries to meet national needs in 

the present crisis, this overlapping member-

ship was pointed out. T h e executive secre-

tary of A . R . L . was instructed to confer 

w i t h the chairman of the board, since the 

need for a special A . R . L . committee in this 

area was questioned. It w o u l d appear that 

interests of A . C . R . L . and A . R . L . members 

w o u l d not be slighted as the A . L . A . Board 

on Resources assumes leadership in this 

mobilization effort. 

T h e s e two examples are cited to indicate 

specifically how existing A . L . A . boards and 

committees operate in this general area of 

federal relations. T h e y should assure ade-

quate coverage of all library interests where 

federal relations are involved. E v e r y mem-

ber of A . C . R . L . is also a member of A . L . A . 

and as such is interested in f u r t h e r i n g all 

library interests. T h e r e are special interests 

of A . C . R . L . members, however, and these 

must not be neglected. College, university 

and reference librarians constitute a fairly 

large proportion of the membership of 

A . L . A . committees. 

If A . C . R . L . special interests are not re-

ceiving adequate attention f r o m these 

A . L . A . committees it is the responsibility of 

A . C . R . L . officers and Board of Directors 

to call such neglect to the attention of the 

particular committees. If such neglect con-

tinues, A . C . R . L . has the right to request 

A . L . A . C o u n c i l review of such committee 

a c t i o n s — o r inactions—and if satisfactory re-

sults are not then obtained, A . C . R . L . w o u l d 

be justified in establishing its own boards 

or committees to w o r k independently. It is 

extremely doubtful that such a situation 

w i l l occur. 

T h e college, university and reference li-

brarians serving on these A . L . A . boards 

and committees have a primary responsi-

bility to keep in mind any special interests 

of A . C . R . L . members. E v e r y A . C . R . L . 

member has the responsibility of bringing 

these interests to the attention of the ap-

propriate A . L . A . committee, either directly 

as a member of A . L . A . , or indirectly 

through A . C . R . L . officers, directors or sec-

tion officers. T h e executive secretary of 

A . C . R . L . has a special responsibility to be 

alert to these interests and to suggest action 

programs. If each member and each officer 

of A . C . R . L . is alert to our needs and inter-

ests in the area of federal relations, the 

policy of cooperating w i t h and operating 

through present organizational machinery of 

the A . L . A . should assure that these needs 

and interests w i l l be met adequately and 

satisfactorily. 

JULY, 1951 275