Federal aid and the growth of a subject literature

Since 1966 the federal government has made millions of dollars available for the purchase of instructional materials for use in the nation's elementary and secondary schools. While the federal funds have benefited students and teachers through the establishment of materials collections, relatively little research has been conducted in the use of these materials. The experimental test described in this article shows that productivity in regard to the subject literature supporting the school library media center concept increases or decreases in correspondence with the amount of federal funds made available for each fiscal year. This subject literature represents the state of knowledge (source) in a communication process to the learner (destination). It is suggested that if federal funds were made available for the systematic study of the phenomena of use of learning materials, new knowledge and a more effective communication system would result. Thus, the teacher's knowledge and understanding of the use of instructional materials, which will ultimately determine the use or nonuse of such materials, would increase, and children would benefit.