Legislative Commission on Libraries records

Series — Box: Legislative Commission on Libraries minutes of meetings and agendas, 1962-1964

Identifier: C#00657-2012-43-1636-1548

Staff Only

Dates

1962-1964

Biographical / Historical

During the 1950's and 1960's, federal and state legislation set standards for libraries to insure that adequate service was available to all. In order to qualify for state and federal funding, libraries were expected to meet these standards by a certain date. Besides space requirements, there were staff and collection requirements and requirements for hours of service. Federal initiatives and local activity prompted the Rhode island LIbrary Association to recommend that the General Assembly establish a commission to study the state of library services in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Legislative Commission on Libraries was established by General Assembly Resolution 72, on May 25, 1962. The resolution stated that Rhode Island's "library facilities ...are presently inadequate in may respects:..." The Commission was formed to study existing state laws pertaining to libraries in Rhode Island, and to make a report of its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by 1964. The Commission was also specifically tasked with reviewing an expected American Libraries Association study on the structure and functions of state libraries as well as to study the report of the "Rhode Island Library Project" , which was also due to appear around that time. " (This project consisted of a study made in 1963 by John A. Humphry, Director of the City Library, Springfield, MA. This study was initiated by educators and library leaders who had convened at Brown in University in May 1959 to discuss cooperation among the various types of libraries in the state. Humphry’s study recommended that the seventeen multi-library communities each establish a central library. It also recommended that the city/town officials either designate one library to receive the state grant-in-aid or require that the independent libraries function as a coordinated system .