Senate Joint Resolution Number 15 of the 1970 General Assembly directed the State Council of Higher Education "to study the feasibility of establishing graduate and undergraduate courses in library disciplines."

The resolution appears to have been the result of activities in 1968 and 1969 which focused on library needs and library education in Virginia. Graduate library education has been the expressed concern of the Virginia Library Association and the School Librarians Division of the Virginia Education Association. There have been two recent studies in Virginia (24, 25) concerned with library manpower and education, resulting in resolutions being made by several professional groups advocating study of library educational needs and/or the establishment of a graduate school of library science.

The study reported in this document was initiated in response to Senate Joint Resolution No. 15 with the advice of the Library Advisory Committee, a standing committee of the State Council of Higher Education. The Committee was instrumental in the selection of the study consultants and assisted the Council staff in the identification and collection of data. The consultant team began to work with the Council staff with a review of the preliminary data and a definition of data parameters as indicated by the Resolution. Additional information was secured by staff and consultants in conferences with the Director of the Office for Library Education of the American Library Association, the Executive Committee of the Library Advisory Committee, representatives of the Virginia Library Association, and the State Library Board. State Council staff and the consultants also conferred with other persons generally engaged in graduate library education.

The joint effort of the State Council and consultants has been this report which frames the problem of manpower and education in the library field in a Virginia perspective. Serious consideration is given to the rapid increases in numbers of educational programs, and the manpower supply and demand problems as they apply to the Commonwealth as well as the nation.