114 BEPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM^ 1915, 



LIBKART. 



With accessions during the year aggregating 2,209 vohimes, 2,530 

 pamphlets, and 183 parts of volumes, the Museum library was in- 

 creased to 45,818 volumes and 76,295 pamphlets and unbound papers, 

 or a total of 122,113 titles, exclusive of duplicates. The additions 

 were obtained by purchase, by exchange of Museum publications 

 and by gift, the most liberal benefactors having been several mem- 

 bers of the Museum staff. Among the donations of special note may 

 be mentioned the scientific library of the late Prof. Theodore N. 

 Gill, and the addition by Dr. William H. Dall of 162 titles to the 

 sectional library of mollusks. 



The appropriation for books, which has never been increased above 

 $2,000 annually, is inadequate for securing all of the absolutely nec- 

 essary publications only obtainable by purchase, this being especially 

 so in the matter of current scientific literature and of expensive 

 works printed privately. The library also meets with difficulty in 

 regard to binding, the amount that can be spared from the printing 

 item for this purpose being quite insufficient. 



The unsettled conditions in Europe have delayed the receipt of 

 many publications from the Old World, and have prevented to a 

 large extent the negotiations for additional exchanges which had 

 been begun. Over 3,000 volumes were borrowed from the Library 

 of Congress and smaller numbers from the libraries of the Geologi- 

 cal Survey, the Army Medical Museum and Library, and other 

 bureaus. 



The Museum has unfortunately been deprived of the important 

 botanical library of Dr. E. L. Greene, which was deposited in 1904 

 for a period of 10 years, with the privilege of purchasing. Not 

 having the means for complying with these terms the books have 

 been disposed of elsewhere. 



MEETINGS AND CONGRESSES. 



The auditorium, the adjoining committee rooms, and other space 

 in the new building were frequently utilized during the year for 

 lectures, meetings and other public gatherings having objects relat- 

 ing to those of the Institution and also for official purposes of the 

 Government. The lectures of The Washington Society of the Fine 

 Arts were, as during the two previous years, given in the auditorium 

 and were well illustrated in various ways. There were three courses, 

 as usual, one of 6 lectures for members of the society on "The art 

 of to-day," one of 6 lectures for the public on " The decorative 

 arts — "Kie great periods in the history of art," and finally one of 5 

 lectures on " The romantic period of music." The first of these series 



