Appendix VI. 



REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1893. 



Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith a report upon the operations of the 

 library of the Smithsonian Institution during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893. 



The work of recording accessions has been conducted as in the preceding years. 

 The entry numbers in the accession book extend from 246, 110 to 268, 386. 



The following table shows the number of volumes, parts of volumes, pamphlets, 

 and charts received during the year: 



Publications received between July 1, 1898, and June 30, 1893. 



Volumes 



Parts of volumes - 



Pamphlets 



Charts 



Total 



Quarto or 

 larger. 



594 

 16, 650 



870 



Octavo or 

 smaller. 



Total. 



1,245 

 6,299 

 3.581 



1,839 



22, 949 



4,451 



249 



29, 48S 



Of these publications, 272 volumes, 6,981 parts of volumes, aud 821 pamphlets, 

 8.074 in all, were retained for use in the U. S. National Museum. 



Nine hundred and sixty-three medical dissertations were deposited in the library 

 of the Surgeon-General U. S. Army; the remaining publications were sent to the 

 Library of Congress on the Monday after their receipt. 



In carrying out the plan formulated by the Secretary for increasing the library 

 by exchanges, 781 letters asking for publications not on our list, or asking for num- 

 bers to complete the series already in the library, have been written. It gives me 

 pleasure to report that as a result of this correspondence 246 new .-xchanges were 

 acquired by the Institution, while 81 defective series were completed, either wholly 

 or as far as the publishers were able to supply missing parts. 



Since this plan of the Secretary was first formulated in 1887,4,512 letters have 

 been written with a view of increasing the number of periodicals aud transactions 

 of learned societies in the library of the Smithsonian Institution. The result of 

 this work has been most gratifying; 1,350 new periodicals have been added to the 

 list and 909 defective series have been either completed or filled out as far as the 

 publishers were able to supply missing parts. 



The reading room is now taxed to its utmost capacity; the 494 boxes for the use 

 of scientific periodical literature are all filled and periodicals which it would he 

 desirable to keep in the general reading room must be placed elsewhere for lack of 

 space. The reading room no longer has sufficient accommodations for the growing 

 exchanges of the Institution nor for the persons desiring to consult this important 

 collection of current scientific literature. 



Ever since 1890 the Secretary has called attention in his annual report to the fact 

 that the present quarters of the library are insufficient; the natural expansion of 

 the library has been prevented by the fact that the rooms adjacent to the library 

 were occupied by the bureau of international exchanges. It will be possible shortly 

 to assign other quarters to the bureau of international exchanges, and plans have 

 been prepared for book shelves in one of the rooms made vacant. It is estimated 

 that space will thus be secured for about 6,000 volumes. 



In addition to the strictly scientific literature which is contained in the reading 



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