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Show Page 2 obvious that never in our history has it been as necessary for this country's citizens to understand the motivations and life styles of the other societies and cultures that comprise our world. On an ever shrinking planet, faced with declining resources, burgeoning populations, and an intensified competition by blocs of nations for a larger share of the world's goods, we either grow in understanding, deepen our perception of the situation, or possibly, perish. It may be that one of the more useful intellectual approaches for achieving this necessary perception lies in area studies which, at their best, recognize that all subjects are interrelated through the single mind of man, and that we shall never be able to carve up the domain of thought along narrow fixed lines. Accepting the value of encouraging the further development of international education in the future, recognizing that the brief period of affluence' in the 1950's and 60's may have been a temporary experience, what needs to be done at the library level to assure adequate continuing support to these programs? Granting that Institutions can no longer pursue a philosophy of unrestricted free enterprise, how can we best mobilize our minds, our available financial resources, and our energies to assure that the very real and important achievements of the recent past are not wasted or left to atrophy? It is important to recognize that even at the height of the affluent period there were deep rooted and unresolved problems confronting libraries attempting to serve programs in international education. It is undoubtedly ' true that conditions prevailing in the 50's and 60's encouraged individual institutions, in their drive to achieve prestige and excellence, to involve themselves in efforts that were unnecessarily competitive and duplicative. This luxury can no longer be afforded. There is a need for a new approach at the national level to assure a more systematic development of material • resources, a more economic allocation of manpower, and a more efficient delivery of services. While this suggests that national leadership to-date has been found wanting, it would be ungracious and improper to point a finger at individuals, institutions, or associations, who have and are dedicating their minds and spirits to the support of these programs. Rather we now.face a situation where it becomes increasingly necessary to place additional responsibility for new kinds of coordinated effort on the leaders of government and academia. . ' Dr. Richard Lambert, In his study of international education, Language and Area Studies Review (1970), correctly notes that it is misleading . • to assume that language and area studies is a monolith in which the parts are • interchangeable or that it is a domain of scholarship readily susceptible to centralized direction. And yet, it is clear that there are problems and needs common to all area studies and their libraries, apparent similarities as well as obvious differences. We will first review the state of the library art in each of the eight world areas chosen for inclusion in this report (Africa, East Asia, Latin America, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and Western Europe), then note the problems common to all these programs and offer recommendations for solving these problems. It is important that each ' area be reviewed separately if we are to discover how the problems of one area differ from those of another. This approach results in a degree of repetition ^ since area studies, as noted, share similar problems and needs, as well as ' * reflecting differences. This repetition, however, serves the purpose of identifying the major problems common to all. I\ • |
