That you approve the enclosed statement of policy of the United States
Government on International Book and Library Activities and its
implementing directive, and authorize their issuance as a National
Security Action Memorandum.2
In your special message to the Congress on February 2, 1966, you
recommended that the flow of books and other educational material
between the United States and other countries of the world be
increased.3 A policy to
carry out your directive has been agreed upon. Concurrences have been
received from the Department of State, the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, the Agency for International Development, the
Library of Congress, the Peace Corps, the Smithsonian Institution, the
United States Information Agency and the Government Advisory Committee
on International Book Programs. Action programs are being planned to
carry out this policy if it meets with your approval.
Attachment
Policy Statement4
NATIONAL POLICY STATEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL BOOK AND
LIBRARY ACTIVITIES
In his Message to Congress of February 2, 1966,5 the President said, “Education lies at the heart
of every nation’s hopes and purposes. It must be at the heart of our
international relations.” Books, by definition, are essential to
education and to the achievement of literacy. They are also
essential to communication and understanding among the peoples of
the world. It is through books that people communicate in the most
lasting form their beliefs, aspirations, cultural achievements, and
scientific and technical knowledge.
In the United States and other developed countries, where there has
been the opportunity for a long time to emphasize education and
books, there have been created vast resources of printed materials
and other forms of recorded knowledge in all fields of human
endeavor. In the United States, a great complex of library systems
has emerged, serving ordinary citizens as well as students and
scholars. In the developing countries, where more than two-thirds of
the world’s population live, there is an acute need for the books
essential to educational growth and general social progress, and for
libraries which can enable these nations more easily to acquire and
use the technology of the modern world. The United States Government
declares that it is prepared, as a major policy, to give full and
vigorous support to a coordinated effort of public and private
organizations which will make more available to the developing
countries those book and library resources of the United States
which these countries need and desire.
The total needs of the developing countries with regard to books
cannot be adequately filled by assistance from the outside; nor,
under present conditions, can they be filled from local resources.
From a long-range point of view, the establishment of viable book
publishing and distributing facilities in the developing countries
and regions is essential. It shall therefore also be the policy of
the United States Government to encourage and support the
establishment of such facilities.
[Page 350]
The utility of books goes beyond their contribution to material
progress. The free and full exchange of ideas, experiences and
information, through books, is indispensable to effective
communication between people and nations, and has a unique role to
play in the enrichment of the human spirit. Recognizing this, the
United States Government is further prepared, as a major policy,
actively to promote the free flow of books and other forms of
recorded knowledge.
The task of filling the world’s need for books and of achieving an
adequate exchange of books among the nations is immense. No single
institution or agency and no single government can hope to
accomplish it alone. It is therefore essential that all agencies of
Government concerned in any way with international book and library
programs assign to these a high priority. It is further essential
that they coordinate their book and library efforts with those of
other pertinent government agencies and private institutions. If new
legislation or special funds are needed to carry out this policy,
agencies will make appropriate requests to the Congress. All
agencies of Government, under the direction of the Department of
State, should actively seek to cooperate with other governments on a
bilateral or multilateral basis in the achievement of these
objectives.
The Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs
has the responsibility for coordinating United States Government
efforts in this field.
Attachment
Paper Prepared in the Department of
State6
DIRECTIVE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE NATIONAL POLICY STATEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL BOOK AND LIBRARY
ACTIVITIES
I. To carry out the
foregoing policy, agencies are directed to develop specific
courses of action, within the framework of their financial
resources and statutory responsibilities, to accomplish the
following goals:
A. To ensure that the book and library assistance programs of all
federal agencies contribute on a coordinated basis to the broad
objec
[Page 351]
tives of
educational growth and peaceful progress in the developing countries
by such activities as:
(1) assisting in the development of textbooks and supplementary
reading materials for indigenous school systems;
(2) expanding programs for distributing and supporting the
publication of low-priced editions of American books, including
textbooks and source materials, in English and in translation;
(3) establishing, under local auspices, English and indigenous
language rental libraries and bookstores for high school and college
students;
(4) providing graded reading materials for new literates in local
languages or English;
(5) providing books to support the basic professions and trades and
the learned disciplines, theoretical and practical;
(6) providing funds and technical assistance to establish viable
indigenous book publishing and distributing facilities;
(7) contributing to the development of greater professional
competence by increasing the number of exchange and training
programs for book publishers, librarians, textbook writers and
editors, and persons engaged in related activities;
(8) supporting a program of library development, in cooperation with
the U.S. publishing industry, U.S. libraries, library organizations
and institutions, to include:
(a) assistance in adapting to local conditions and needs the
most advanced library technology;
(b) overall “collection development” programs by cooperating
institutions in the U.S.;
(c) counseling on library development;
(d) sizeable expansion of the present Smithsonian program to
provide core libraries overseas with U.S. journals and serial
publications;
(9) initiating a major training program for library personnel, to
include:
a) strengthening of existing national and regional library
schools, plus refresher and in-service training and selected
work-study training in the U.S.;
b) development of additional regional library schools, with
provision of scholarship funds;
c) instruction in the application of modern technology to library
practices.
B. To encourage and directly support the increased distribution
abroad of books studying or reflecting the full spectrum of American
life and culture by:
(1) expanding U.S. book “presentation” programs and otherwise
facilitating gifts of books abroad;
[Page 352]
(2) encouraging cooperative ventures between U.S. and overseas
publishers for the publication of American books abroad, in
translations or in inexpensive English-language reprints; and
(3) increasing the number of American libraries and bookstores
overseas.
C. To further a greatly increased inflow of foreign books and
materials including journals, microfilms, and reproductions of art,
music, folklore, archival and manuscript collections, to U.S.
libraries through the use of PL 480,7
appropriations under Title II c of the Higher Education Act of
19658 and other funds.
D. To stimulate and support a much more extensive exchange program in
books and related materials between U.S. and foreign libraries,
museums, educational and research institutions.
E. To encourage closer liaison between American and foreign
libraries, greater exchange of reference and bibliographical
information, and closer collaboration in the development of
information storage and retrieval and computer utilization
programs.
F. To support all measures designed to lower or eliminate tariff
barriers, exchange restrictions and other impediments to the free
flow of books and related educational materials.
G. To provide greater support to the efforts of the U.S. book
industry toward the attainment of these goals through positive
measures such as political risk-insurance, guaranteed
convertibility, and whatever other means are required to normalize
communication and the channels of trade in international publishing
and book distribution.
II. The Department of State,
in consultation with appropriate agencies, is directed to
ensure:
A. That activities of U.S. Government agencies are coordinated in
such a way that Government resources will be used with the greatest
efficiency and economy.
B. That the actions of the U.S. Government take into account the
activities of private institutions and of the American book industry
in the international book and library field.
C. That specific actions are tailored to conditions in specific
countries or regions.
[Page 353]
III. In seeking any new
legislation or additional funds, agencies, in consultation with
the Department of State, should make appropriate proposals to
the President through normal legislative clearances and
budgetary channels.
