Cost-benefit analysis is regaerded as an objective approach in the social sciences for judging whether a project of public investment is appropriate in terms of public welfare. But, it hasn't been applied to the decision making on public library construction. This doesn't result from less necessity of cost-benefit analysis in the public library policy-making, but from the fact that sufficiently accumulated methodology for that purpose has not been established yet. There, nevertheless, have been few works rendering the theoretical aspect to date. The author investigates several problems that arise as cost-benefit analysis is applied in the area of public libraries, and proposes a formura for evaluating benefits based on the concept of consumer's surplus.

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From the 17th century, city public libraries(Stadtbibliothek)were founded in major German cities, but they were used only by the rich citizens of upper class. In the 19th Century many libraries for the working people of the lower class(Volksbibliothek)were organized in larger cities.Between these two social classes there remained a great middle class of citizens, for whom there was no public library service.Constantin Norrenberg, librarian of Kiel University, Germany, visited Chicago to see the World Exposition 1893 and met American librarians at the World's Congress of Librarians. He visited many libraries and found that the American public libraries were used by all people of the community, regardless of the difference of their social classes. Norrenberg promoted the Bookhall-movement(Bucherhallenbewegung)to establish the ideal public library service in Germany, helped the founding of Bucherhallen in Hamburg and Elberfeld, and bacame himself the director of the Landes-und Stadtbibliothek Dusseldorf. The "Bucherhalle"as German public library was formed on the ideal of public library, which includes the conditions:public library as an indispensable counterpart of public school, financial maintainance by public fund, a legal obligation of local public government to provide public library service, free use, reading room open also in the evening, use by the readers of all social classes and management by professional librarians. This ideal was realized by the public library movement after the end of the control of the national socialism.

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Eight important archival collections, which are originally located at the archives and libraries in the United States are to be introduced to modern Japanese library historians:(1)GHQ / SCAP Papers(CIE Records)(2)Joseph C. Trainor Collection, Hoover Institute Archives(3)Microfilm collections at the National Institute of Educational Research in Tokyo(4)Hideo Satow, Eiichi Suzuki and Gary H. Tsuchimochi(eds. )Educational Reform in Japan, 1945-1952. (5)American Library Association Archives, University of Illinois Library(6)Rockefeller Foundation Archives and Charles B. Fahs Papers(7)Justin Williams, Sr. Papers, University of Maryland McKeldin Library (8)Verner W. Clapp Papers, Library of Congress The collections and papers are useful to advance the research of American influences of librarianship in the Occupied Japan, 1945-1952. The author describes the origin and the nature of the collections and papers and how to use them. Of some collections and papers the research tearm including the author is preparing catalogs to find out each paper regarding to specific persons and subjects.

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