Library Service for Children in the USSR. Reaction paper by Marilyn L. Miller.

The development and management of children's libraries and library services in the USSR are discussed by N.S. Kobzarenko, State Republican Library for Children of the Ukraine, and comparisons and contrasts between that system and the U.S. system are outlined. Kobzarenko notes that library services for children, established along directives from V.I. Lenin, exist to help schools ensure educational process, to aid in the development of a child's personality and morals, and to assist parents, teachers, and educators with questions regarding children's reading. Materials are regulated through a centralized State library system which publishes books through its own publishing houses. Librarians are trained in the guidance of reading using various detailed methods and programs. The improvement of professional skills of the staff is recognized through methodical centers for research and through government standards. Marilyn Miller, from the University of North Carolina School of Library Science, points out that library services in the United States and the USSR reflect each nation's ideological, social, and economic philosophies while both are dedicated to the welfare of the children served. Objectives for public library service, programming, and collections are compared. (CWM)