540 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CATALOGUING. 



The work of the Catalogue Division suffered during the past year 

 through the loss of five of the experienced cataloguers. Three left 

 the main library to accept positions with higher salaries in one of the 

 bureau libraries, and it was necessary to transfer two temporarily 

 to other divisions of the library. As a result, the amount of catalogu- 

 ing was less than in the previous year and the number of pieces 

 awaiting cataloguing was much greater. Nevertheless a larger 

 number of catalogue cards were prepared for printing by the Library 

 of Congress, this being due to the fact that the printing of cards for 

 articles in four foreign agricultural periodicals, which was inter- 

 rupted by the war, was resumed and brought up to date. The 

 periodicals are the following: Annales de la science agronomique; 

 Annales de I'lnstitut national agronomique, Paris; Landwirtschaft- 

 liche Jahrbiicher, and Die landwirtschaftlichen Versuchsstationen. 

 There was also a larger addition of cards to the card catalogue, which 

 now consists of approximately 480,000 cards. 



USE OF THE LIBRARY. 



The total number of books recorded as circulated by the main 

 library and the bureau libraries was 82,741, of periodicals 156,298, 

 making a total of 239,039. As in the past, no records have been 

 kept of the use of the library for reference, and certain of the bureaus 

 have no record of circulation. The main library also keeps no record 

 of the circulation of current periodicals. The number of loans to 

 libraries out of the city was 1,290, an increase of 142 over last year. 

 The Humber of publications borrowed from other libraries in Wash- 

 ington was 3,595 and from libraries in other cities 53, the cor- 

 responding figures for last year being 4,028 and 69. More detailed 

 statistics are given in Appendixes 1 to 4. 



The position of reference librarian, which has been vacant since 

 1919, was filled this year by the appointment of Miss Ellen Hedrick, 

 who, however, was obliged to resign in June, leaving the position 

 filled only temporarily by the appointment of Miss E. L. Ogden. 

 Besides the use of the library by department workers, its resources 

 have brought scholars, investigators, business men, and students 

 from outside to consult it. Workers from other Government depart- 

 ments and bureaus and from various offices in Washington are 

 frequent readers, and scientists from other parts of the country visit 

 it with long lists of references to literature which they have been 

 unable to consult, or at least to consult conveniently, elsewhere. 

 Many inquiries are received over the telephone from persons both 

 inside and outside of the department and range from questions as to 

 the' middle name of a department employee to requests for the collec- 

 tion of all the literature in the library bearing on tiie living conditions 

 on farms in the United States as compared with those of France and 

 Italy. Letters asking for information and bibliographies are also 

 received almost daily. The library is able to respond to the calls for 

 bibUographies only to a limited extent, being forced often by lack of 

 assistance to confine the lists sent to the titles which appear in its 

 card catalogue. 



