286 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



very considerably its collections. Accordingly, about 1,500 volumes 

 were returned to the library, including several long sets of periodicals. 

 The collections in the Hbraries of the Bureau of Chemistry and the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry were also reduced during the past year by 

 returning to the main library books and pamphlets which had been 

 called for only infrequently in these bureaus. On account of the tend- 

 ency toward unity in scientific work, it is increasingly difficult to 

 separate the books needed by one bureau from those needed by another. 

 To attempt, therefore, to have bureau libraries adequately covering 

 the hterature of the various subjects investigated by the bureaus 

 would in the case of some of them involve the maintenance of large 

 separate collections nearly coextensive in scope with the main library. 

 For these reasons the general policy in regard to the bureau, division, 

 and office hbraries is to make them strictly reference collections on 

 the subjects of special interest to their respective bureaus and offices. 



On July 1, 1914, the Rural Organization Service having been com- 

 bined with the Office of Markets to form the Office of Markets and 

 Rural Organization, the collections of both were placed under the 

 jurisdiction of the librarian of the new office, who was formerly 

 librarian of the Office of Markets. With the beginning of the calendar 

 year, when the Office of Markets and Rural Organization was moved 

 mto its new quarters at 1358 B Street SW., the two collections were 

 combined. 



On May 1, 1915, the Office of Public Roads was moved into an 

 up-town office building, some blocks from the department, necessitat- 

 ing the removal of its library. A few months previous the library 

 of the office was very considerably reduced in size by returning about 

 3,000 books and pamphlets to tHe main library. These were princi- 

 pally Government, State, and city official publications. The library 

 of the above office is now more of a special reference library of mate- 

 rial in frequent demand in the work connected with roads and rural 

 engineering. 



The appropriation bill for the fiscal year 1916, which became 

 effective July 1, 1915, provided for the transfer or combination of a 

 number of offices of the department, and these changes made cor- 

 responding changes in the library work of the various offices con- 

 cerned. Collections of boolis formerly filed in certain of the offices 

 were changed to other offices and current periodicals formerly circu- 

 lated in certain of the offices were dropped from their lists and sent 

 instead to other offices. These changes in organization in the 

 department require readjustment in library matters and are strong 

 proof of the desLrabnity of the centralized administration of the 

 library work of the department. This centralization gives greater 

 elasticity and prevents much waste of work and duplication by 

 making it possible to shift material in the library from one office to 

 another to meet the changed conditions. 



In reportmg on the activities of the bureau, division, and office 

 libraries mention should be made of the very considerable amount of 

 work other than library work which has been done by several of the 

 libraries. This embraces principally secretarial work, editorial work, 

 proof reading, the care of mailiag lists, mdexing correspondence, and 

 the care of collections of lantern slides and photographs. 



One of the assistants in the Bureau of Plant Industry library has, 

 since January 1, revised aU bibliographical lists accompanying papers 



