By ROBERTA deKAY

a long way from River City Computer technology, information explosions and new user demands are changing the role of the library. Librarians and community delegates will meet in Washington in November to discuss the costs, potential and problems of these challenging developments. Marian the librarian would have been surprised.

CARVED above doorways of libraries across the country, the words "Free Public Library" represent the American way of life like baseball, apple pie and election day. For most people, the library is a place to find the latest best-seller, catch up on magazines or find a bit of sanctuary from a hectic world. Students use libraries for research work and as quiet places to study. Even five-year-olds find that learning to print their names is rewarded with a free library card.

Times have changed, however, and even institutions as traditional as the library have been making changes. Over the last few years, school, public and university libraries have been creating new niches for themselves in the information industry and as cultural centers. In a service-oriented society, libraries are claiming a part of the action, and they've come a long way from the simple days of Marian the librarian who checked out books to the citizens of River City and was suspected of reading (tut, tut) Balzac, Chaucer and Rabelais.

Just how far libraries have come was made abundantly clear at the Illinois White House Conference on Library and Information Services, held last November at the Holiday Inn East in Springfield. The purpose of the conference was to prepare recommendations and nominate representatives to send to the National White House Conference on Library and Information Services to be held this November 15-19 in Washington, D.C. But the key word at the conference was "information": how to find it faster and how to distribute it better. Balzac, Chaucer and Rabelais were replaced with terms like "data bases," "information explosion" and "system networking." The display area glowed with audio-visual equipment; and the PLATO terminal, a computer teaching machine (see January 1976, p. 5), had long lines waiting to experience the fun of questions and answers displayed on a television-type screen. At the same time, delegates heard speeches on the need for libraries to share their resources and begin reaching people who, for one reason or another, are not yet being served.

In Illinois, libraries now exist in most grade schools, some complete with elaborate audio-visual equipment. High school and university librarians are stressing how to find, use and evaluate information. Public libraries are now part of regional areas and are connected by computer networks to yet larger regional and research libraries. Some large public and university libraries have computer data banks to search out the most obscure abstracts for research topics. In response to these changes, library graduate schools are offering courses that didn't exist 15 years ago, such as "Information Storage and Retrieval," "On-line Searching of Data Bases" and "Systems Analysis."

Libraries at White House

The increasing stress on information is evident at the national level, too. In 1970, a permanent federal commission, the National Commission on Library and Information Services (NCLIS), was created to coordinate information services for the entire country. Its new director, Charles Benton, is not a traditional librarian but a product of the burgeoning education-information industry. And the national conference this November, sponsored by NCLIS, is the first time libraries and information services have been the subject of a White House conference. Illinois' 19 delegates

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(nominated at the state conference and selected by a delegate selection committee) will be among the representatives from 57 states and territories attending. Their list of concerns runs a gamut from lifelong learning to international understanding and cooperation, and their final resolutions will be presented to President Carter and to Congress.

Conferences in states

The NCLIS sponsored conferences in all 50 states with the mandate that two-thirds of the delegates to the national conference be from the community and one-third from the library profession. Donald Wright, director of the Evanston Public Library, and Willard Ice, a Springfield attorney, were co-chairmen of the Illinois conference. Community and library delegates were often in accord regarding possible future services to the public, but sometimes community delegates scored valid points regarding fuller use of facilities, more convenient hours and efficient use of budgets (see April, p.15).

The Rev. Floyd Worley, Carbondale, said of the conference, "There are not many, but a few librarians, who have some hard-nosed attitudes about what people need. This conference has put them in touch with library users in such a way they may be able to take another look."

Diana Polk, Moline, librarian with Deere and Company, said, "I came here with an interest in computer technology, but I have become aware of a literacy need of young and old - this has caught my eye more than the technology. Our library is completely computerized - and corporations can afford it - but where's the money to come from for public libraries and schools? Who's going to pay for expensive terminals? And then there are the small libraries which don't even have a typewriter."

William Boyd, Winnetka, director of continuing education at New Trier High School, said, "We can't continue to not care what other educational facilities are doing and keep duplicating services. We must share resources. I also think the public library is the ultimate tool for continuing education."

As the comments show, there are many questions and roles for libraries to consider now and in the future. Fortunately, Illinois is rich in library resources and far ahead of many states in developing resource sharing. There are 576 public libraries, plus 759 high school, 3,077 elementary,482junior high and 500 special libraries in the state. The Illinois State Library is the center for library planning: it channels state and federal grants to the 18 library regions and coordinates Illinet (Illinois Interlibrary and Information Network). This network makes it possible to locate materials in libraries throughout the state by using the computerized catalogue listings of four research and reference libraries and three special resource centers. Before Illinet, librarians had to make a guess as to where requested material might be, then phone or mail a request to a library. If the material was found, there was still a delay; if it was not available, the process began all over again.

Computer cataloging services are also available to the 108 Illinois libraries which subscribe to the OCLC (originally the Ohio College Library Center, but now a corporation with 1,600 subscribers across the nation). Its computer catalogue files list 45 million items. "Because of this automation," said State Library Director Kathryn Gesterfield, "people in Quincy and Rockford can query the state library and see that we have the information they want. We can search our data bases for materials we don't have and let them know where it is." The process can take as little as 13 seconds.

Access to libraries

Finding information quickly has been helped greatly by technology, but there still remains the old problem of getting services to all people. While over nine million citizens have access to libraries, there are two million citizens who miss out on library services because there are no libraries in their communities or because they live outside city limits. Added to this is a general lack of awareness as to what libraries can actually provide, so that only about one-third of the population takes advantage of their services.

What libraries can provide is greatly determined by the funds they receive from local and state taxes and from federal grants. Although libraries have traditionally been seen as a part of public education, NCLIS literature and the Urban Library Council Studies both point out that state expenditures for libraries are minute when compared to state expenditures for public education. The Illinois State Library budget for fiscal year 1979 (which includes research and reference grants, equalization grants, area per capita grants, grants to library systems, services to state institutions and the blind and handicapped) is $22 million. This is .2 of 1 percent of the total for all state appropriations. Public education gets 39 percent of the state budget. Yet Illinois, because of a large population and industrial base, ranks sixth in the nation in aid to libraries with a state appropriation of $1.00 per capita. New York ranks highest with $1.65 and Maine lowest with $0.12. Supported by local funds Public libraries, sometimes called the last bastion of local services, are still supported largely by local funds. In Illinois the breakdown for 1975 was: 4.9 percent federal grants, 18.5 percent

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sharing either. This means that finding new ways of funding libraries will be a major concern in the future.

The importance of getting adequate funding is underscored by the range of obligations which the public library seeks to meet. As Carl Volkmann, acting director of the Lincoln Public Library, Springfield, put it: "We are the only ones to meet all the needs of all the people -- recreational, educational, cultural and informational — so we have to have material for college graduates, grade school students, lifetime readers and once-a-year users." Volkmann sees the information explosion in the number of book titles to choose from — 30,000 a year — and is encouraged that the number of telephone calls to the library for information has been increasing. (The library's reference department is now called "reference and information.") But the new facility is the most tangible evidence of Lincoln Library's new image. Open, airy and inviting, the building is used for lectures, concerts, book groups and programs for adults and children. The library has an appropriation from the city of $ 1.97 million or 1 percent of the total city budget. Unlike public libraries, university libraries have a built-in clientele and usually get 4 to 5 percent of a university budget, but funding and enrollment problems affect their budgets, too. Brookens Library at Sangamon State University in Springfield is called a teaching library. Librarians have faculty status and an emphasis is placed on helping students learn how to find and evaluate the literature of their field. Mary Jane MacDonald, instructional services librarian at Sangamon State, takes a pragmatic view about the information explosion and computer network systems, pointing out that while information is more quickly available, it is important to ask how much of the information is needed and what is being done to find new ways to deliver services. MacDonald, formerly with the Illinois State Library, said, "Things go in cycles, and if you look at library literature at the turn of the century it sounds like new and exciting things were happening then, too. Life long learning was talked about in the early 1900's, and during the depression there was a push for using the libraries as the people's university. But the fact still remains that if you are in a small town and have sophisticated information needs, you're still going to have a problem." Reaching more people in small communities was one of the reasons for establishing the state's 18 library regions in 1965. The regions receive state grants based on the population served and area covered. "We need to look at how the regional systems are spending their money," said MacDonald. "I am not sure that for the money put in, it has paid off for the general public. I think it was a very good idea to establish them, but in terms of quality of service it might be time to review them in an evaluatory way." Minimum standards The most common type of library is in the public elementary schools. There are 3,077 of them, serving over two million students. Funding for the school libraries became available with the 1965 Elementary and Education Act, Title II program. Over the years, some libraries have grown from just providing books to becoming multi-media centers. While a minimum standard for school libraries/ media centers is suggested by the Illinois Office of the State Board of Education, according to 1976 standards, only 49.5 percent of the high schools and 13.45 percent of the elementary schools met that standard. Having state and national mandates for school media programs at all grade levels was the number one priority of librarians for the upcoming White House Conference. In the meantime, the status of the media program is being studied. Dawn Heller, coordinator of media services in district 208, Riverside, said, "The media program is suffering a clench because of cuts in school budgets." She feels professionals will have to show the advantages of media centers and that students who don't have access are at a disadvantage. Mary West, coordinator of library services for district 186, Springfield, stressed the need to "help children become lifelong learners and intelligent consumers of information." She said that while the quality varied from district to district, there was an effort to provide equal service in the area covered. While no one is against libraries any more than they are against baseball and apple pie, a lack of public awareness of

Illinois delegates to White House Library Conference Thirteen delegates from communities and six from libraries will represent Illinois at the National White House Conference on Library and Information Services to be held this November in Washington,D.C. Eight alternate delegates will attend the conference but will not vote. The delegates and theiralternates were selected by a committee from nominations made at the Illinois White House Conference last November. Community representatives: Nancy Abbate, Chicago, executive director, Youth Service Project, Inc.; John Armendariz,Chicago, foundry worker, SIPI metals; William J. Boyd, Winnetka, director, adult and continuing education, New Trier Township High School Extension; Cullom Davis, Springfield, history professor, Sangamon State University; Christopher Donahue, Rockford, student, Rockford High School; Helen Dayle Eldredge, Springfield, administrator of public inquiry, Office of the Secretary of State; Eugene W. Holmes, Peoria, vice president of public affairs, WRAU-TV; Elizabeth Lawson, Chicago, associate professor and assistant director of admissions, Chicago State University; Arthur Jackson, Rock Island, instructor, Black Hawk Community College; Elizabeth Maloney, Edwardsville, teacher's aide, Edwardsville Community Unit #7; Patrick C. Racey, Chicago, senior manager of public policy analysis, Quaker Oats Company; David M. Truitt, Chicago, attorney, Truitt, Brown and Truitt; Howard R. Veal Sr., Springfield, executive director, Springfield Urban League. First alternates: George L. Adams, Geneva, architect and owner, G. L. Adams Associates; Charlene Bentz, Elmhurst, member of League of Women Voters and former professor, University of Tennessee; Hans Fischer, Carbondale, architect, Fischer Stein Associates; Matthew Pilcher, Chicago, director, Native American Committee; Virginia Williams, Mount Carmel, owner of Willow Catering Service. Library representatives: Howard W. Dillon, associate director of public services, U niversity of Chicago Library; David King, Chicago, Standard Educational Corporation; Robert R. McClarren, Deerfield, director, North Suburban Library System; Sharon Simmons, Clinton, librarian, Clinton High School; Peggy A. Sullivan, Chicago, assistant commissioner, Chicago Public Library; Donald E. Wright, Evanston, director, Evanston Public Library. First alternates: Kathryn Gesterfield, Springfield, director, Illinois State Library; Ray E. Howser, Groveland, director, Illinois Valley Library System; Jerome R. Podesva, East Alton, superintendent, East Alton Elementary District 13.

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their possible uses and rising costs and tightening budgets at all levels creates complex problems. Larry Auald, acting director of the Graduate School of Library Sciences, University of Illinois, said, "There will probably be no single answer to the problems because we are experiencing mass changes in basic communication media. The question is really how libraries will accommodate to this in the future."

Meanwhile, community delegates with new insights into libraries brought up some special questions. Howard Veal, director of the Springfield Urban League, said, "I feel with a coordination of services and a growing public awareness about what libraries can provide, the goals may be met; but I have some concerns about representation. Does the board of trustees of a public library really reflect the whole community? Do the books reflect the different ethnic groups of a community? Do citizens know how trustees are selected and how decisions to spend money are reached? There must be accountability there, too."

Cullom Davis, history professor at Sangamon State and a delegate to the national conference, feels that federal and state programs which provide funds to establish programs for resource sharing will move libraries in that direction. "Public libraries are evolving into much more active community and cultural centers than in the past, and in that capacity the roles and possibilities are unlimited and exciting," said Davis. He also feels libraries have to commit themselves to full and active participation in the community by serving minority groups, people in prison and the handicapped.

The next few years will demand ingenuity of library professionals and citizens to maintain the momentum, keep the public informed and deal with tightening budgets. And as libraries convert to computerized circulation systems, the average citizen will find copies of Balzac, Chaucer and Rabelais sporting the same mysterious stripes that now appear on the frozen green beans in the grocery store. You might expect to find that under Science Fiction, but it's really Nonfiction. Marian the librarian would be surprised.

Roberta deKay is a prizewinning poet and free-lance writer living in Springfield.

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