Int. Libr. Rev. (1973) 5, 63-70

I N T A M E L W O R K I N G P A R T Y , I T A L Y , 1972

The Public Library in Large Cities

H. C. C A M P B E L L ,

I N T R O D U G T I O N

The basic function of the public library today is still to bring books to people, and people to books. This activity has been carried out in Europe and North America by the public library for over one hundred years, and the audience now reached by metropolitan area public libraries alone can be estimated at more than 70 million adults each year as well as millions of children. A growing number of persons are also being served in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In doing so the public library makes use of print, and those newer developments of print and the graphic arts that the past few decades have introduced into our lives.

I would first like to make clear that the public library system, particu- larly in Western Europe and North America, is today in a state of change. I would like to suggest several causes which I feel are responsible for bringing this about. These are first, the world-wide impact of the new information technology on public library systems; second, the shifting role of the public library in relation to other municipal and national education and information services; and third, developments and prac- tices in the staffing and administration of our library services, which make it necessary to have people with a wide range of specialized abilities, not only those who know and love books.

In our visits in Italy during International Book Year we have been greatly impressed by the dedication of all those in this country who work to maintain the central role of the book, in spite of the changing times around us.

In addition to the changes mentioned earlier, there are social changes taking place, and the public library has had to respond to these changes. The continuing movements of citizens to secure more participation in their own government is one of the basic facts that is bringing change to the public library system. The public library has to adapt itself to new

]" President, INTAMEL, Toronto Public Library, 40 St Clair Avenue E., Toronto, 7, Canada.

6~ H. C. C A M P B E L L

forms of government, and to the increasing demand for fuller participa- tion of citizens in the planning of their own lives. Where revolutions have brought dramatic changes to nations, it is interesting to observe the role of the public library before, during and after the revolutions.

We will be required in the future to develop methods of selective dissemination of knowledge to our users in the large and medium size public libraries, if we are not doing this now. Our users will not be con- tent simply to be provided with a wide range of books, they will ask us for more guidance and assistance in securing non-book and current technical and scientific information. For these reasons I see that in all countries a growing need to utilize methods of communication between and within library systems and to develop library communication net- works capable of sending and receiving messages between the various libraries. To my way of thinking, the most important new technology for information handling which we in public libraries should study are the methods of operating communication network systems between our individual libraries. These need not be sophisticated electronically, but they must get the message across speedily, accurately and reliably.

The International Association of Metropolitan City Libraries was established in 1968 and has now an active membership which represents more than 70 metropolitan cities in the world. We are pleased that our Association has had as vice-president Sr Renatto Pagetti, who has been a most capable organizer of our meetings in Italy.

An increasingly important area in which the International Associa- tion for Metropolitan City Libraries is concentrating its efforts is the matter of metropolitan library services for developing countries. We are fortunate in that during our meetings in Italy we have had represen- tatives from many distant parts of the world. From Africa we have had representatives from Accra in Ghana, and Lagos in Nigeria. From the continent of Asia we have been able to welcome the representatives from the public libraries of both Delhi and Colombo. From Latin America we have had the opportunity of discussing problems of Mexico City, D.F., which has a population now in the neighbourhood of 8 million inhabitants, is expanding constantly and requires an urgent solution to many of its educational, literacy and reading problems.

From the countries of the Middle East, we have had representatives from both Cairo and Tehran, and we have been able to discuss some of the transitions and changes taking place in the urbanization of the cities and the needs for extension of literacy and library services. It is abundantly clear that many of the problems which we have heard about cannot be solved quickly. It is clear that the solutions which have been attempted to date have not fulfilIed all the expectations of the librarians

T H E P U B L I C L I B R A R Y I N L A R G E C I T I E S 65

in these countries. Our Association is hoping that with help, our col- leagues in these countries will be able to reach the goals which they have set for themselves and their users. As a result of our meetings we have agreed that INTAMEL will do all that it can to stimulate an inter- national research programme aimed at seeking solutions to many of the needs of the metropolitan public library services. A major portion of any research programme carried out under the auspices of INTAMEL will be directed to stimulate the training of the library staffs within selected metropolitan centres so that new methods may be developed which would be appropriate to meet the needs of the local metropolitan users. This does not mean that some of the mcthods used in developed countries may not be applicable, but the research will seek the most effective ways of meeting local requirements regardless of those presently being used.

In selecting metropolitan cities for its research programme, INTA- MEL will be guided by the fact that its member libraries are situated in these countries, and that there has been sufficient interest shown there to establish a long-range programme for training public library staffs and developing and extending public library systems. It is expected that the research programme carried out in each country may also be of benefit elsewhere since in the case of its previous work INTAMEL has found that the results of the studies have been of value outside the metro- politan area investigated. Similarly, much of the benefit in training staff and developing new work methods will be of value outside of the local library system.

In addition to the programme of research in the needs of developing countries, members of the Association keep abreast of changes and de- velopments and report regularly on new activities and practices. We have currently heard from our members concerning the following areas of their investigation:

Central Book Selection and Processing This study showed us the various ways in which books may be selected

and processed centrally by large metropolitan systems. A questionnaire was circulated to our members.

National Literatures and their Use All large public library systems have established certain methods for

securing literature from abroad, in order to meet the needs &the i r read- ers. This study will be devoted to finding how methods used in one metropolitan area can be applied in another, so that it is not necessary for large city libraries to duplicate techniques and bibliographic work which has already been completed elsewhere. The study will also pro- vide a guide to the selection of national literatures in different countries.

66 H. 13. CAMPBELL

Commercial Libraries This study is concerned with the organization and management of

special commercial collections in large city systems. Such resources are essential working materials for the economic life to the city. A number of large libraries have met these needs with methods Which require study for application to other systems.

Staff Organization A report was given to us dealing with the most effective methods of

utilizing staff in large city systems to deal with the provision of recrea- tional and educational reading.

Library Government and Legislation This study aims at showing the range of legislation in all countries

which now effects the growth and establishment of public library sys- tems. It will isolate the most important aspects of library legislation both in developing and developed countries.

Planning of Buildings The construction and use of public library buildings is of continuing

concern in metropolitan areas. This study will outline some basic principles which have to be observed in building premises in order to meet various needs. This study relates to the project for library stan- dards which has already been completed.

Library Data Processing The handling of records and transactions in metropolitan public

library systems is growing in complexity, and this study deals with the processing of all needed forms of data, both for administration and for public service.

Documentation Centre Our Documentation and Public Information Centre is a central

clearing house of information on metropolitan library development throughout the world. The centre receives reports from metropolitan public library systems and issues lists of these so that members may secure copies.

Statistics Annual reports on metropolitan libraries statistics are prepared

giving the administrative information necessary to analyze metro- politan libraries' services.

We have been fortunate to have with us at our meetings representa- tives from several European countries. From the United Kingdom we had

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY IN LARGE CITIES 67

representatives from London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. The public libraries of the metropolitan area of London have been among the fore- most in the world in responding to changes in a metropolitan centre.

During the nineteenth century the demands of British industry for labour drew great numbers of people from the countryside and by the turn of the century, three-quarters of the population of Britain were living in towns. The largely built-up urban community was already the dominant type of British community. During the past 70 years the process has been intensified and suburbs and towns in Britain have con- tinued to spread and merge. Today about one-third of the entire popu- lation of Great Britain live in the seven urban centres; Greater London; southeast Lancashire with its centre at Manchester; the west Midlands with its centre in Birmingham; central Clydeside with its centre at Glasgow; west Yorkshire with centres in Leeds and Bradford, Mersey- side with its centre at Liverpool and Tyneside with its centre at New- castle-on-Tyne. This accounts for something over 17�89 million people.

The Greater London area alone accounts for nearly 7�89 million. In one year the 32 separate public library systems of the London boroughs added over 2 million books to their collections. Their book stock amounts to almost 20 million volumes.

In spite of great accomplishments several problems still face the Lon- don Public Library systems. Among these is the need for three or four major large reference libraries which will be open six or seven days per week for 12 hours per day, in order to back up the resources of the borough systems.

In addition to changes taking place in the London Borough Public Library system, the whole question of a new national British library system is being much discussed. This will have a great effect on the public library services in metropolitan London.

The new developments for the British national library system which were proposed in 1970-71 envisage a new site for the library of the British Museum which might require anything up to 13 years to develop at a cost of many millions of pounds. In addition, lending facilities to supplement this reference facility will be expanded in the National Lending Library for Science and Technology at Boston Spa in Yorkshire. It can be seen from this that national development of the British library services will have effects not only on the London metropolitan area but also on public libraries in all parts of the country.

We are fortunate in having with us at our meetings a representative from Metropolitan Paris and the Library Services of the Department of the Seine. We are extremely impressed to learn of the developments tak- ing place for the construction of a new Paris public library system which

68 H . C. C A M P B E L L

will supplement the work of the Bibliothaque Nationale and permit a wide range of access to public libraries for reading.

At our meetings here we have had representatives from several cities in the German Federal Republic; in Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover and Duisberg. All of us are aware of the great strides of the past 20 years in the rehabilitation of library services of Berlin and of the complex and difficult problems associated with making these resources available to the residents of the metropolitan area.

Greater metropolitan Berlin, which of course encompasses both Berlin in the East and Berlin in the West, now have a total population of over 3�88 million. In order to meet the needs of this population, separ- ated for many years by the exigencies of political developments, the library services have taken on separate and distinct characteristics. One future problem concerns the amalgamation of library services in greater Berlin. The German Federal Republic has spent a considerable amount of its resources in developing library services outside Berlin in other metropolitan cities. It has supported the Deutsche Bibliothek in Frankfurt, the Library of the German parliament in Bonn and in co- operation with various states has financed such libraries as the law library in the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg, as well as the Prus- sian State Library and the Ibero-American Institute Library in Berlin.

During our meetings we have learned much about the problems of public libraries in metropolitan centres of Italy. We have come to appreciate the fact that by the year 1980, if the present rate of migra- tion continues, approximately 37% of the population of Italy will be concentrated in the eight metropolitan centers of Milan, Naples, Rome, Turin, Genoa, Florence, Palermo and Bologna. By the year 2000 this figure will rise to approximately 45 % of the population. It has there- fore been made clear to us that the problems which Italy faces in the development of metropolitan public library services is equal if not greater in complexity to those in many of the other European countries. We are particularly pleased to hear of the plans for extending the National Network of Reading Centres which is promoted under the Bureau of Academies and Libraries and the fact that people outside of metro- politan areas are being reached in an active programme. It will become an important guide for our research studies to observe how the libraries in Italy share resources between the urban and rural population, and particularly how the central libraries of the different provinces of Italy function to supply material to communal and popular libraries in the rural areas. This seems to be a very economical provision of service and one which we have studied with great interest.

We were pleased to hear that in order to increase the resources of the

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY IN LARGE CITIES 69

national network of libraries, the two National Central libraries materials will be made available to even the smallest towns in the country, and the small municipal libraries wilt have access to the resources of the larger libraries in each province. Not only will existing libraries become an active part of the network but the collections in 10 of the local library centres in various provinces are being strengthened as resource centres, and 200 new libraries are being set up in small towns.

From the United States of America we have welcomed at our meet- ings representatives from Chicago, Baltimore, Brooklyn and Denver. All of us are aware of the important leadership which the Chicago Public Library has provided for over one hundred years in the United States of America. We are also aware of the changes and plans of New York City Library systems including the public library of Brooklyn, New York and Queens to develop administrative and out-reaching pro- grammes of library service for users. Those of us who have visited Baltimore in 1971 had the opportunity of seeing at first hand the way in which Baltimore Public Library is developing its services to serve both as a resource centre for the area and to reach into the changing com- munities which make up the centre core of the city. The librarian of the Denver Public Library has told us a good deal about his plans for developing a metropolitan area in the west of the United States.

We have also been able to hear from colleagues from Canada, notably from Toronto and Vancouver, of the extension of services which are necessary in Canadian metropolitan centres as a result of rapid growth of population. Canada is a country where urban centres are expected to increase in size and scope so that by the year 1990, no less than 70% of the population of Canada will be living in metropolitan areas and by the year 2000, 90% of the population will live in seven metropolitan centres. These predictions indicate the great change which has taken place from the concept of North America as a land sparsely peopled and vast open spaces, to a continent where in 30 years nearly 100,000,000 people will live in metropolitan urban settlements.

Metropolitan cities in all parts of the world today generate a varying range of technological advances. The congregation in one place of large numbers of people in different vocations implies mutual stimulation and the possibility of complex innovations. To administer and maintain the city requires high capacities and skills; the expertise developed in city management can be applied elsewhere and the metropolis serves as an instrument of general progress.

Through its concentration of physical and cultural power, the city has heightened the tempo of human intercourse and translated its products into forms that can be stored and reproduced. Through its monuments,

70 H. C. CAMPBELL

written records and orderly habits of association, the city has enlarged the scope of all human activities, extending them backwards and for- wards in time. By means of its storage facilities (building vaults, archives, monuments, tablets, books) the city has become capable of transmitting a complex culture from generation to generation, for it has marshalled together not only the physical means but the human agents needed to pass on and enlarge this heritage. This remains the greatest of the city's gifts.

Whether or not our metropolitan cities can maintain this position will in large measure depend on our ability to adapt to the changes that are taking place. We shall remember the words of Alvin Toffier " In life-- is the roaring current of change, a current so powerful today that it overturns institutions, shifts our values and shrivels our roots".

The International Association of Metropolitan City Libraries has accordingly adopted its Declaration of Rome, which is set out opposite.