REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Office of the Librarian, 

 Washington, D. C, Septemher 26, 1910. 

 Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith the executive report of 

 the Library for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910. 

 Respectfully, 



Claribel R. Barxett, 



Lilyrarian. 

 Hon. James Wilson, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



WORK OF THE YEAR. 



In presenting the report of the Library for the past fiscal year it 

 may be said in general that it has been one of decided growth in all 

 branches of the work. The Library appropriation exceeded that of 

 an}^ previous year, the staff was larger, and the routine work accoin- 

 plished correspondingly greater. The accessions in books and peri- 

 odicals also outnumbered those of any previous year, and the statis- 

 tics of the use of the Library show an mcrease of 15 per cent. The 

 following report on the work accomplished bears testimony to willing, 

 faithful, and efficient service on the part of the staff. 



rooms. 



With the growth of the Library and its various activities there has 

 not been, unfortunately, any corresponding increase in the amount 

 of space at its disposal. In the last report of the Library attention 

 was called to the need of more room. This need has now become 

 imperative, and unless it is provided for in the immediate future the 

 work and usefulness of the Lil)rary will be very seriously handicapped. 

 During the past year a small amount of additional shelving was pur- 

 chased and about two-thirds of the books in the Library were shifted 

 in order to relieve the congestion at different points, but the crowded 

 condition is now past relieving through sucli moans. Furtliermore, 

 all the space available for shelving has been made use of. ^Vith 

 shelves filled to overfiowing with books it is impossible to keep them 

 in an orderly condition, and as a result many of tliem are misplaced 

 and mucii time is wasted in searching for tliem. Not only are the 

 book rooms crowded, but also the workrooms. The cataloguing 



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