The reference division was called upon to give service on a wide 

 range of subjects at various levels of knowledge. Many inquiries 

 are received by telephone and through the mail, and inquiries highly 

 specialized in nature are turned over to the scientific staff. The card 

 catalogue facilitates the work of the reference assistant and it also 

 aids the researcher in his quest for information. Books circulated 

 to readers using the main reading room totaled 2,410. 



As has been customary, a great amount of material was lent to 

 other libraries, organizations, and institutions, and many volumes 

 were borrowed from co-operating libraries. If it is found that items, 

 especially borrowed out-of-print material, would be useful in our 

 permanent collection, microfilms are made. The number of volumes 

 handled through interlibrary-loan service totaled 239. 



The binding program has kept pace with the influx of books and 

 periodicals, and in addition many volumes from the collections were 

 rebound or repaired. The total number of volumes sent to the 

 bindery during the year amounts to 1,000. The volumes labeled 

 and repaired in the Museum Library number 6,211. 



The 13,886 catalogue cards that were prepared, typed, and filed 

 in the general, departmental, and divisional catalogues of the 

 Library represent entries for new items, both books and runs of 

 serial publications, and reclassified entries. Analytics (2,029) and 

 appropriate card entries were made to index articles in journals and 

 periodicals. The total number of new volumes added to the col- 

 lection is 1,037, and 1,736 volumes were reclassified. Cataloguing 

 the collection of books in oriental languages housed in the East 

 Asian Library was continued by Dr. Hoshien Tchen, Consultant, 

 East Asian Collection, who during the year catalogued approxi- 

 mately 140 titles consisting of more than 500 volumes. 



As the number of journals and other serials now classified under 

 the Library of Congi'ess system in this Library has increased, 118 

 standing orders for complete analytics for monographs in these series 

 have been placed with the Library of Congress Card Division, thus 

 decreasing the original cataloguing to be done. Unfortunately the 

 Library of Congress does not analyze the majority of foreign serials 

 received by the Museum Library, and analytics for these, if required, 

 must be composed by our cataloguer. 



Although there remains a substantial backlog of uncatalogued 

 material in both book and serial form because of a temporary short- 

 age in personnel, temporary entries are filed in the general catalogue 

 for books shortly after their receipt. These slips, stamped "not 

 available until catalogued," serve the double purpose of providing 

 a check to prevent accidental duplication of orders and of announcing 



80 



