Libraries In The Federal Government

as many and varied as the multi-faceted activities of the government itself which, in turn, reflects the wide-ranging interests of the American people. In size they range from osce collections just beginning to require organization to the gargantuan Library of Congress or the world-wide public library service of the Army. There is no federal library system. It is doubtful that a single system can be organized or would be desirable. F. Mohrhardt, in 1953,ldescribed five library systems in the federal government, one of which served all elements in its agency, but he did not conclude that any of these systems in-cluded all libraries in its agency. Eight years later this writer still knows of no federal department which has all of its libraries in a single system. For these and other reasons the definition of federal library becomes difficult. I t involves such questions as: When does an office collection become a library? Is an information center a library? Is a film collec-tion a library? If this paper were a comprehensive study, it would include libraries serving the research needs of federal officials, national libraries, prcsidential libraries, public and general purpose libraries within the federal establishment, and libraries in federal educational and correctional institutions and in federal hospitals. They have three common characteristics: financial support, control, and operation by the federal government. A more comprehensive study will be found in Library Trends for July 19Sa2 In order to bring this study within manageable bounds, it is neces-sary to limit it further to two types of federal library: national libraries and libraries serving the research needs of federal officials. This limi-tation is done with regret and with the knowledge that the majority of federal libraries are excluded. The regret is increased by a belief that in many ways the excluded libraries are working as effectivel