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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shaughnessy, Thomas W.
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Language:en
Published: 1975
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED102997
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author Shaughnessy, Thomas W.
author_facet Shaughnessy, Thomas W.
Shaughnessy, Thomas W.
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents An Overview of the Development of Larger Units of Service and the Central Library Concept. Shaughnessy, Thomas W. Branch Libraries Centralization County Libraries Federal Legislation History Library Networks Library Role Library Services Library Standards Outreach Programs Public Libraries Regional Libraries Rural Urban Differences State Libraries Statewide Planning During the first half of the twentieth century, there was slow but steady progress toward larger units of public library service, such as county and regional systems. But there was a lag both in the conceptual and the actual development of the central libraries of these systems as strong points for direct service to readers. Librarians were first committed to reach out at the local level and to extend at least minimal service to everyone. The principle of local, direct access to libraries partially prevented attention from being paid to the quality service and subject depth of resources that a centralized system could provide. With the passage of the Library Services Act (LSA) in 1956 and the approval of new standards for public libraries, the ground work was laid to correct this unbalanced development. Most of the earlier efforts to form larger units of service, including those under LSA, were directed toward making books physically convenient for people. Only in the last few years, due to the impetus of some forward-looking state planning and the passage of the library Services and Construction Act in 1964, has effort been focused on building strong central services and resources. (Author/SL)
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_ED102997
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 1975
record_format eric
spellingShingle An Overview of the Development of Larger Units of Service and the Central Library Concept.
Shaughnessy, Thomas W.
Branch Libraries
Centralization
County Libraries
Federal Legislation
History
Library Networks
Library Role
Library Services
Library Standards
Outreach Programs
Public Libraries
Regional Libraries
Rural Urban Differences
State Libraries
Statewide Planning
An Overview of the Development of Larger Units of Service and the Central Library Concept. Shaughnessy, Thomas W. Branch Libraries Centralization County Libraries Federal Legislation History Library Networks Library Role Library Services Library Standards Outreach Programs Public Libraries Regional Libraries Rural Urban Differences State Libraries Statewide Planning During the first half of the twentieth century, there was slow but steady progress toward larger units of public library service, such as county and regional systems. But there was a lag both in the conceptual and the actual development of the central libraries of these systems as strong points for direct service to readers. Librarians were first committed to reach out at the local level and to extend at least minimal service to everyone. The principle of local, direct access to libraries partially prevented attention from being paid to the quality service and subject depth of resources that a centralized system could provide. With the passage of the Library Services Act (LSA) in 1956 and the approval of new standards for public libraries, the ground work was laid to correct this unbalanced development. Most of the earlier efforts to form larger units of service, including those under LSA, were directed toward making books physically convenient for people. Only in the last few years, due to the impetus of some forward-looking state planning and the passage of the library Services and Construction Act in 1964, has effort been focused on building strong central services and resources. (Author/SL)
title An Overview of the Development of Larger Units of Service and the Central Library Concept.
topic Branch Libraries
Centralization
County Libraries
Federal Legislation
History
Library Networks
Library Role
Library Services
Library Standards
Outreach Programs
Public Libraries
Regional Libraries
Rural Urban Differences
State Libraries
Statewide Planning
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED102997