REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 317 



The Library is called upon to do a considerable amount of trans- 

 lating. During the last fiscal year 131 letters and 7 articles were 

 translated by the Librar}^ up to March 1, 1917, at which time the 

 Library translator resigned. Since that date the letters sent to the 

 Library to be translated have, except in a few instances, been re- 

 ferred to the translator connected with the Editorial Office of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry^ in accordance with a cooperative ar- 

 rangement made with that office. A translator was recently ap- 

 pointed in the Bureau of Chemistry and is a member of the staff of 

 the bureau library. Translations are being made of the foreign food 

 and drug laws. 



B}^ far the heaviest of the affiliated activities of the library of the 

 Office of Markets and Rural Organization has been the editorial 

 work. Fifty-nine publications w^ere edited by the library during the 

 past year. The library also has considerable work in connection 

 with the bureau correspondence. 



In the Dairy Division the correspondence files are under the super- 

 vision of the librarian of the division. This work has increased 

 almost 50 per cent during the past year and now requires more than 

 one-half the time of two assistants. The photographic collections 

 and lantern slides are also cared for by the library. 



LIBRARY STAFF. 



The number of employees carried on the roll of the main Library 

 at the close of the year was 35 ; the number employed by the bureau, 

 division, and office libraries was 44. The total number, 79, employed 

 in the main Library and the bureau, division, and office libraries 

 includes 62 librarians, library assistants, and stenographers, 1 trans- 

 lator, 14 messengers, and 2 charwomen. The only change in person- 

 nel of the bureau librarians was in the Bureau of Crop Estimates. 

 The former librarian, Miss Helena C. Spraker, resigned in October, 

 1916, and w^as succeeded on November 1 by Mrs. Ellen H. Painter, 



During the past year many changes w^ere made in the personnel 

 of the main Library staff, due to resignations. Six of the assistants 

 who resigned had been with the Library for a number of years, 

 among them the translator and the bookkeeper. The loss of these 

 assistants seriously crippled the work of the year. As the Civil 

 Service Commission eligible list of library assistants was exhausted, 

 it was necessary to make a number of temporary appointments. 



Library staff meetings were held each month from October, 1916, 

 to June, 1917. 



BUREAU, DIVISION, AND OFFICE LIBRARIES. 



The following table gives a list of the bureaus, divisions, and 

 offices which maintain libraries, with the names of the librarians, 

 and shows the approximate number of books and pamphlets con- 

 tained in the various libraries, the number of current periodicals 

 which are sent to them regularly for review or filing, the number 

 of registered borrowers, and the number to which periodicals are 

 regularly circulated. The statistics in regard to the use of the 

 books in the various libraries are given on preceding pages of this re- 

 port. No bureau libraries are maintained by the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry or the Bureau of Soils. The Weather Bureau librarv is ad- 



