672 



ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CATALOGUES AND INDEXES. 



With the exception of some of the public documents, this collection is fully 

 catalofrnocl by a strnisht dictionary catalojiue. The catalo^rno contains about 

 80.000 cards. It also contains many index references to articles in periodicals 

 of interest in the worlv of the bureau, and also many entries of books along 

 chemical lines in the otlior Washinfiton libraries. Tiie pamphlet collection is 

 separately indexed i)y subject and arranged by author. 



For several years an extensive index by subject and country has been made 

 of foreifrn enactments in regard to foods and drugs which have appeared in 

 oHicial journals. The Library is now maliing a complete collection of the texts 

 of laws enacted throughout the world upon the subjects of foods and drugs 

 and also standards which have been proposed therefor. These are being trans- 

 lated into English and will be arranged, indexed, and kept up to date. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL WORK. 



The various problems of food adulteration call for the compilation of lists of 

 references which the Library compiles. This means an exhaustive and sys- 

 tematic search through scientific literature for previous experiments which 

 have been made with the material under examination, usually a preservative 

 substance or coloring matter. The articles found are generally in foreign 

 languages and must be translated, abstracted, and arranged in logical order, 

 so that the compilation of such a bibliography means days of careful work. 

 Short bibliographical lists are also occasionally called for in correspondence, 

 and these can ordinarily be compiled from the bureau library catalogue. 



CIRCULATION. 



A daily record is kept of the number of books and periodicals lent and of 

 the number of persons using the Library for reference. There are 250 men in 

 the bureau who use the Library constantly. Statistics for the past fiscal year 

 are as follows : 



BRANCHES. 



Besides its active work for the bureau in Washington, the Library has In its 

 charge 25 separate collections of books and periodicals placed in the branch 

 laboratories throughout the country from Boston to Honolulu. The laboratories 

 examining routine food and drug samples have similar collections, while the 

 food-research laboratory, at Philadelphia, is strong in works on bacteriology 

 and refrigeration, and the enological laboratory, at Charlottesville, Va., in books 

 on wine and cider making. 



All purchases for the branches are made under the direction of the bureau 

 librarian, and all periodicals, about 250 in number, are circulated and pre- 

 pared for binding by the bureau library. Requests for the purchase of books 

 made by the chiefs of branch laboratories are carefully considered by the 

 .assistant chief of the bureau and the librarian, and often refused if the labora- 

 tory already has a standard work on the subject which gives the required 



