732 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CATALOGUE CARDS FOR DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



PUBLICATIONS. 



Durinf; the past year the Library has i)repared cards for all the 

 current ])ul)licatioris of the Dopartinent, the number of titles being 

 405, an increase of 07 as compared with the previous year. The 

 revision and re|)rinting of the cards issued by tliis Library })revious 

 to 1906 was also comj)leted. Cards for all the publications of the 

 Department for which it has thus far been deemed advisable to print 

 cards are now available at the Library of Congress. The comj)lete 

 collection of author, subject, and title cards up to July, 1910, com- 

 prises aj)proximately 14,000 cards and costs about $100. The cards 

 issued by this Library previous to 1906 and the cards for current 

 publications of the Department issued since that date have been 

 distributed free to the libraries of the state agricultural colleges and 

 experiment stations, but it was not thought justifiable, on account 

 of the great expense it involved, for the Department to distribute 

 free to the above institutions the set of revised cards for the publica- 

 tions issued previous to 1906. A very liberal arrangement was, 

 however, made by the Library of Congress whereby libraries having 

 sets of the old cards in the large (33°) size or the small (32°) size are 

 enabled to exchange them for the revised set at about half of what 

 the set would otherwise cost. As the 33° size card (about 3 by 5 

 inches) is now almost universally used in American libraries, it was 

 decided during the past year to discontinue printing a special edition 

 of the cards in the 32° or index size, but to cut to the 32° size 

 enough 33° size cards to keep up the sets of the small size which con- 

 tinue to be maintained by agricultural colleges and experiment sta- 

 tions. The new arrangement in regard to the 32° size cards went 

 into effect with the cards for the publications of 1910. A circular 

 letter was sent out on February 17, calling attention to the change 

 and to the offer of the Library of Congress referred to above in regard 

 to exchanging sets in the small size for the revised sets in the large 

 size. In addition to this arrangement for exchanging cards the 

 Library of Congress, as pointed out last year, has also made provision 

 for "verifying the files now located in libraries and experiment sta- 

 tions by preparing a traveling catalogue showing the cards which 

 should be in the set and the arrangement recommended by the 

 Library of the Department of Agriculture." It has seemed worth 

 while to call special attention to both of these offers of the Library 

 of Congress, as a large number of changes have necessarily been made 

 in the author and subject headings on the old cards, and it is believed 

 that libraries possessing the cards will wish to take advantage of one 

 or the other offer. 



BUREAU AND DIVISION LIBRARIES. 



In the report of the Library for the last year a somewhat extended 

 account was given of the various bureau and division libraries. Dur- 

 ing the past "year the work of each of these libraries has grown, the 

 collections hove increased, and in some cases the material equipment 

 has been greatly improved. It can not, however, be said that the 

 problem of the relation of these libraries to the main Library is as 

 yet much nearer solution. Whatever the ultimate solution may be, 



