brarian. In processing the Laufer materials Dr. Tchen discovered 

 that the collection included a number of important Chinese Bud- 

 dhist works, most of them Ch'ing-period block-print editions printed 

 by Buddhist publishers in the famous publishing centers of Hangchou 

 in Chekiang Province and Nanking, Ch'angshou, and Yangchou in 

 Kiangsu Province. 



Most noteworthy among accessions in the East Asian Collection 

 are: (1) the Po-na pen eyh-shih-ssu shih, the Po-na edition of the 

 24 Standard Histories of China— photolithographic reproductions of 

 outstanding early editions; (2) the Hsien-tai kuo-min chi-pen chih- 

 shih, a set of more than 200 volumes covering a variety of subjects 

 relevant to Chinese history and culture, presented to the Library as 

 exchange material by the Ministry of Education, Republic of China; 

 (3) several important basic Japanese reference works; and (4) 

 relevant anthropological journals from Taiwan, the mainland of 

 China, Japan, Hongkong, Indochina, the Philippines, Europe, and 

 the United States (see page 109 for list of representative accessions 

 in the East Asian Collection). 



The control of acquisitions in serial form is an important function 

 of a well-organized library. Here in the Museum Library the 

 centralized recording and routing of serial publications to the de- 

 partmental and divisional libraries is done with strict attention to 

 detail, especially since most of the periodicals received are printed 

 in foreign languages. Much of our Library's growth and the richness 

 of its collection is the result of the extension and continuity of its 

 exchange relations with scientific and other learned societies and 

 institutions throughout the world. 



Renovation and preservation of the contents of the four de- 

 partmental libraries and the preparation for binding of selected 

 incoming material resulted in another year of full activity in this 

 division of the Library. Many books and periodicals required 

 cleaning and rehabilitation before rebinding, and the great number 

 cleaned and repaired in the Library effected considerable saving in 

 commercial-bindery expenses. Continued efforts over the past 

 several years have resulted in substantial economies and improve- 

 ments in the Library's binding program (a total of 2,049 volumes 

 were repaired or bound). This division of the Library is also re- 

 sponsible for labeling all volumes processed— the term "labeling" 

 does not adequately describe the work (2,740 volumes were labeled). 

 The mechanical steps in the preparation of books for the shelves 

 involve perforation, book-plating, labeling, and marking with call 

 numbers and ownership marks. 



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