Changing Services
Successful Cooperatives
The end of the sixties was one of the most successful times in the history of Iowa public libraries. It seemed programs were growing and expanding on every level to provide better, faster service for all Iowa patrons. It was, perhaps, the first time public libraries in the state were fully keeping up with the times and trends and were meeting the ever-growing demands of the better-read, better-informed public. The library cooperative syatem had grown all across the state. There were nearly 50 counties in Iowa with county-wide library service. Although this is only half the state, that segment of the Iowa population which was not served by a public library had dwindled to about one-sixth of the population.
Cut in Federal Funds
Unfortunately, the successes were met with more troubling times of financial set backs. The seventies opened with a serious challenge as President Nixon's veto of an appropriation to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare cut Iowa's Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) funding by $285,000. The Iowa State Traveling Library was forced to take drastic steps, terminating 45 staff members across the state and reorganizing the ten cooperatives into seven.
More Legislation
In 1973, a bill to reorganize the Iowa State Traveling Library, Senate File 196, provided for the creation of a State Library Department headed by the State Librarian, to be appointed by a five-member Library Commission. The Commission consisted of the Supreme Court Administrator, and four members appointed by the Governor and serving four-year terms, one member from the medical profession, and three members selected at large, each based on their qualifications to serve as Commission members.
Also, in 1973, the Iowa Regional Library System was created to provide direct library services to all residents of a region, including those living in areas or communities that did not pay taxes for library services. The new regional library system was made up of seven regions: the Central Region in Des Moines, the East Central Region in Cedar Rapids, the North Central Region in Mason City, the Northeastern Region in Waterloo, the Northwest Region in Sioux City, the Southeastern Region in Davenport, and the Southwestern Region in Missouri Valley.