THE LIBRARY. 681 



sheets of printed cards issued by the Library of Congress, by which means new- 

 books of agricultural interest received by that library and by the Geological 

 Survey and by the Bureau of Education are made available for the use of the 

 office. 



In addition to the 120 periodicals received directly by the office, 435 are re- 

 ceived regularly from the main Library, each number of vphich is regularly 

 sent to from 1 to 12 persons. Each editor receives regularly those publications 

 most closely related to his worlv. and, in addition, special articles in other publi- 

 cations are called to his attention. No statistics have been kept, but a con- 

 servative estimate indicates that about 125 publications are examined daily 

 and about 200 are circulated. A considerable amount of reference work is also 

 accomplished. Assistance has been rendered to libraries of the State agricul- 

 tural colleges and experiment stations in completing sets of station publications. 



Publications of the State experiment stations and of the department are 

 collected and bound for the experiment stations of Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, 

 and Guam, as well as for the office library. During the fiscal year of 1910, 542 

 volumes were prepared and sent to the bindery. 



E. Lucy Ogden, 

 Assistant in charge of the Library. 



LIBRARY OF THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROADS. 



The library of the Office of Public Roads consists of about 3,000 volumes, a 

 large part of which have only recently been added to the collection. Besides 

 the strictly scientific works, which are purchased by the main Library for 

 the Office of Public Roads library, the latter is now receiving the publications 

 of all State highway departments, geological surveys, agricultural departments, 

 and experiment stations, as well as those of various other State organizations 

 which publish statistical information or data concerning highway activities 

 within the States. The Library is also on the mailing list of the engineers of 

 all cities of the United States having over 5,000 inhabitants and issuing any 

 information concerning paving materials and operations in their jurisdiction. 

 The State Department has requested all American consuls to have the name 

 of this office placed on the mailing lists of all Governments which issue reports 

 that might be interesting to our scientists, and in exchange the office is listing 

 such organizations to receive its publications as they are issued. The number 

 of periodicals regularly received at this office is 60, of which 29 are received 

 from the main Library and 31 direct from the publishers. 



The Library has never been fully catalogued, but every effort is being made 

 to hurry this work, which has necessarily been retarded by the recent acquisi- 

 tion of several hundred volumes. 



The Library has. besides its catalogue, a serial index and an index to peri- 

 odical literature. It is not unlikely, however, that the latter may have to be 

 suspended for a time, because of the pressure of other business. This index 

 has proved to be one of the most useful sources of information in the Library, 

 and has been consulted more than any other. Aside from the indexing of 

 periodicals, no bibliographical work has as yet been undertaken by the library, 

 but the librarian is at present engaged in preparing a bulletin containing a 

 digest of the reports of American consuls concerning road conditions and work 

 in foreign countries. 



The librarian of the office also acts as editor, proof reader, and translator for 

 the office. The mailing list of the office is in charge of the Library, and the 

 librarian attends, to the correspondence in connection with the publications. 



Wm. W. Sniffin, Librarian. 



APPENDIX 2. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMY IN 



REGARD TO LIBRARIES.' 



Organization. — There is a main Library, in charge of the department librarian, 

 and there are branch libraries in all bureaus except Animal Industry, Soils, 



1 From the Report of the Committee on efl5cieiicy and economy in the Department of 

 Agriculture, pp. 47—49 



