galleries in the old Museum building for sorting and arranging all the duplicate material. The duplicates were arranged, placed on temporary shelving, and roughly catalogued, and the question of disposing of such part of them as are not required in the general library or by the scientific staff will be taken up during the early part of the coming fiscal year. Many important gifts were received during the year, and the following members of the staff have presented publications: Dr. Theodore N. Gill, Mr. J. H. Riley, Dr. C. W. Richmond, Mr. Robert Ridgway, Dr. W. H. Dall, Dr. Paul Bartsch, Mr. W. H. Holmes, Dr. Walter Hough, Dr. F. H. Knowlton, Mr. J. C. Crawford, and the late Mr. D. W. Coquillett. The Museum library now contains 40,211 volumes, 66,674 unbound papers, and 110 manuscrips. The accessions during the year consisted of 1.911 books, 4,014 pamphlets, and 202 parts of volumes; 878 books, 1,033 complete volumes of periodicals, and 4,181 pamphlets were catalogued. Attention has been given to the preparation of volumes for binding, with the result that 809 books were sent to the Government bindery. The number of books, periodicals, and pamphlets borrowed from the general library amounted to 28.028, among which were 5,582 obtained from the Library of Congress and other libraries, and 4,142 assigned to the sectional libraries of the Museum. One sectional library has been added to those already established, and the complete list now stands as follows: The records of the Museum library consist of an authors' catalogue, an accession book, a periodical record on standard cards, and a lending record. This lending record is on cards and includes the books borrowed from the Library of Congress and other libraries for the use of the scientific staff. No changes were made either in the arrangement or in the methods of carrying on this work. Letters requesting new exchanges and for the purpose of completing the sets already in the Museum library have been given every consideration, and a number of titles have been added in this way. Owing to the crowded condition of the general library, it has been necessary to use the reading room as a place for receiving and distributing publications for the Museum library. The transfer and arranging of the duplicates on the galleries will relieve this condition to some extent and make it possible for that work to be done elsewhere. Bureau of American Ethnology.-The report of this library will be made by the ethnologist in charge and incorporated in his general report. Astrophysical Observatory.—A thorough overhauling of this library and the removal of duplicates and such other material as is not needed was undertaken during the year. As a result, the observatory now has for reference a very efficient working library relating to astrophysics and allied subjects. During the year 93 volumes and 11 parts of volumes were added, making a total addition of 104 publications. National Zoological Park.-A small reference library of zoological books is maintained at the park, to which 15 volumes were added during the year. Summary of accessions.-The following statemeht summarizes all the accessions during the year, except for the Bureau of American Ethnology, which is separately administered: Smithsonian deposit in Library of Congress, including parts to complete sets___. Smithsonian office, Astrophysical Observatory, National Zoological Park, and International Exchanges_. United States National Museum Library__. Total__. Respectfully submitted. 11, 239 676 6, 127 18, 042 F. W. TRUE, Assistant Secretary in charge of Library and Exchanges. Dr. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. APPENDIX VII. REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report on the operations of the United States Bureau of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature for the year ending June 30, 1911, together with a report of the proceedings at the Second International Convention of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature held in London July 12 and 13, 1910, outlining the general condition of the whole enterprise: The appropriation made by Congress for the maintenance of the bureau during the year was $7,500, an increase of $1,500 over the appropriation for the previous year. Five persons are regularly employed in the bureau, and the services of temporary clerical assistants occasionally engaged. In order to properly analyze and classify the many scientific works now being published in the United States it is not only desirable but necessary to obtain the advice and assistance of scientific men who are specialists in the several sciences included in the scope of the catalogue, and the increase of $1,500 in the appropriation for the catalogue this year has made it possible to have some of the more technical papers referred to such specialists. It is a matter of gratification to report that the utmost interest has been shown by all the scientific men who have been approached for aid, and that for a nominal sum classification citations are prepared and furnished to the bureau, thus rendering it possible for the scientific publications of the United States to be not only indexed in a thorough bibliographical manner, but also, when necessary, classified by specialists. The classification numbers used in the subject-catalogue refer to the subject-contents of the papers cited, and furnish the equivalent of an abstract of each paper indexed. During the year 26,020 cards were sent from this bureau, as follows: Thirty-two regional bureaus are now cooperating in the preparation and publication of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. The catalogue consists of 17 annual volumes published by a central bureau in London. The regional bureaus are maintained by the countries they represent, usually by direct governmental grants; the central bureau is maintained by funds derived from subscriptions to the work. Supreme control of the enterprise is vested in a body known as an international convention which met in London in 1905 and again in July, 1910, thereafter to meet every 10 years. Each country maintaining a regional bureau has the right to send delegates to this convention. The assistant in charge of the regional bureau for the United States was appointed by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to represent the United States at the second international convention. The principal countries of the world sent delegates to the convention as follows: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, India, Italy, Japan, New South Wales, Russia, South Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. At the opening meeting held in the rooms of the Royal Society on July 12, 1910, Sir Archibald Geikie, president of the Royal Society, was elected chairman, and Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, F. R. S., vice chairman. The report of the executive committee was then laid before the convention. This report stated that the seven annual issues of the catalogue already published, comprising 117 volumes, had cost the London central bureau to edit, print, and publish, $257,980, for which $246,410 had been received from the subscribers to the catalogue. Each annual issue of 17 volumes had averaged 9,117 pages. From estimates made it appeared that when the first 10 annual issues were published the receipts and expenditures of the central bureau would probably balance, and it was thought that taking into account the extent and difficulty of the enterprise this result would not be unsatisfactory. While the gross annual income received from subscriptions has exceeded the estimate originally made by an average of over $8,000, the cost of editing and printing has been much greater than was originally estimated. This is due mainly to the fact that the size of each issue of the catalogue has greatly exceeded the original estimate, and also, in a lesser degree, to the fact that an edition of 1,000 copies, instead of 500, was printed. The working capital needed was also larger than originally estimated, it being necessary for the Royal Society to advance to the central bureau $37,500, on which interest is paid. Although the International Catalogue is understood to be a permanent organization it is one of the duties of each convention to authorize the continuation of the publication for definite periods. The following motion, therefore, was made and it was resolved: That in view of the success already achieved by the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature and the great importance of the objects promoted by it, it is imperative to continue the publication of the catalogue at least during the period 1911-1915, and, on recommendation of the international council, during the subsequent five years 1916-1920. After several motions concerning details of organization, it was unanimously voted that it is most desirable that a capital fund should be obtained for the catalogue." It is now apparent that a capital fund to be at the disposal of the central bureau has been urgently needed since the beginning of the undertaking. Lacking a capital fund, it has been necessary for the central bureau to borrow money on which interest has to be paid, and on account of lack of funds it has been impossible to carry out several plans looking to the general improvement of the work. Had a capital fund been available in the beginning of the enterprise, it would not have been necessary for the subscription price to be placed at such a high figure. Consequently, a larger edition could have been disposed of and at a lower rate to each subscriber. At the session of the convention on July 13, methods of administration were discussed and the following resolution passed: That each regional bureau be requested to prepare a list of journals in each science which the catalogue will completely index in the annual issue following the year of publication, and that the central bureau be authorized to publish the lists thus prepared. The new List of Journals will consist of titles of publications devoted almost exclusively to scientific matters, and these journals will be given precedence in the work of the regional bureaus, though references to scientific papers published in other than regular scientific journals will eventually find a place in the catalogue. Some such action was necessary on account of the impossibility of dealing promptly with the vast number of semiscientific journals now published throughout the world, and, as promptness of publication is one of the most desirable features in an index-catalogue, it was necessary to find some means whereby an index to the more important papers could be prepared practically as soon as the papers themselves were published. To render it possible to promptly publish future volumes of the catalogue the following resolution was adopted: That the resolution of the year 1900 authorizing the central bureau to close these volumes at different stated dates, each volume to correspond to the literature of a period of 12 months, be confirmed. The effect of this resolution will be that the separate volumes of the catalogue will not necessarily cover the whole calendar year but will cover a period of 12 months. A number of discussions then followed, pertaining to plans for improvements in the organization and general work of the regional bureaus. It was then resolved: That in view of the resolution adopted unanimously by the representatives of the various countries constituting the convention, desiring the Royal Society to continue its responsibility for the publication of the International Catalogue for a further period, the committee appointed be instructed: (1) To take all possible steps to prevent reduplication by the publication of several annual and similar catalogues and indexes on the same subject, by making arrangements such as those now in force with the Zoological Society of London. (2) To obtain further assistance and cooperation in the preparation of the material of the catalogue from the principal scientific societies and academies and the organizations which collect materials for indexing scientific literature. The idea now seems to prevail that the organization of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature will gradually be able to cooperate with the present editors and publishers of the various scientific indexes and yearbooks, so that the annual volumes of the International Catalogue will eventually entirely supersede and take the place of all similar publications. This will not only be of common benefit to the International Catalogue and to the societies and private individuals now doing such work, but will greatly assist scientific investigators and librarians in whose interest the International Catalogue is prepared. The question of publishing a decennial index was then discussed and it was decided that on account of the great expense necessarily involved the work could not for the present be undertaken. The matter was left for the action of the next international council, which will be held within the next two years. During the meeting of the convention the foreign delegates were the recipients of numerous and gracious hospitalities from the Royal Society, the Royal Society Club, and individually from the English members of the convention. Very respectfully, yours, Dr. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, LEONARD C. GUNNELL, |