REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 



United States Department of Agrictjlture, 



Office of the Librarian, 

 Washington, D. C, October 23, 1911. 

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

 the Library for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911. 

 Respectfully, 



Claribel R. Barnett, 



Librarian. 

 Hon. James "Wilson, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



GENERAL STATEMENT. 



It will be seen from the detailed reports on the various branches 

 of the Library's work which follow that the past j^ear has been one 

 of distinct progress, in spite of the handicaps under which the 

 Library has labored due to lack of room and changes in the staff. 

 In the Report of the Librarian for 1909 attention was called to the 

 necessity for a settled and definite library policy in the department, 

 especially in regard to the relation of the main Library to the libra- 

 ries of the bureaus and divisions. There is cause for gratification 

 that such a policy has finally been outlined and adopted through the 

 approval by the Secretary of Agriculture of the recommendations in 

 regard to " Libraries " made by the Committee on Economy and 

 Efficiency in the Department of Agriculture in their report issued 

 June 30, 1911. The full text of the cliapter on "Libraries" as 

 printed in the committee's report is given in Appendix 2. These 

 recommendations having been approved by the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, as stated above, became effective on July 1, 1911. It is quite 

 probable that the coming year may show no marked change in the 

 work of the Library as the result of the definite adoption of the 

 recommendations of the committee, since the policy expressed in the 

 recommendations has in general been the policy under which the 

 Library has been working for many years. It is, however, confi- 

 dently hoped that the official recognition and adoption of a definite 

 library policy will insure greater permanence and continuity of 

 effort in the library work of the department and that the centraliza- 

 tion of administration in library matters provided for in the recom- 

 mendations will in time result in greater economy and efficiency by 

 minimizing to the smallest possible degree the duplication and over- 

 lapping of work and by providing for the widest possible use of 

 material. 



231G5'— AGE 1911 42 657 , 



