REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 287 



Record of books lent outside of Washington during the fiscal years 1912 to 1916. 



During the last half of the fiscal year, as a matter of interest, an 

 informal record was kept of the number of letters from outside of 

 the city received each day requesting interlibrary loans. It was 

 found that with the exception of 21 days, at least one request was 

 received every day and that the average was over 2 a day, the total 

 being 362 for the 6 months. 



As in previous years, the department has continued to make large 

 use of the resources of other libraries. A comparative statement of 

 this use during the past four years is shown in the following table: 



Summarized statement of books borrowed from other libraries during the fiscal years 1913 



to 1916. 



It will be noted from the above table that the number of books 

 borrowed from libraries outside of the city has not increased in the past 

 four years, but that the number borrowed from libraries in the city has 

 increased between 18 and 19 per cent. Of the 6,774 borrowed from 

 libraries in the city during the past year, 5,279 were borrowed from 

 the Library of Congress, 939 from the Surgeon General's library, 227 



