REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 17 



CoTMnittee on printing and publications. — All manuscripts sub- 

 mitted to the Institution for publication either by members of the 

 staff or by outside authors are referred for consideration and recom- 

 mendation to the Smithsonian advisory committee on printing and 

 publication. The committee also considers matters of publication 

 policy. During the past year seven meetings were held and 107 manu- 

 scripts were considered and acted upon. The membership at the close 

 of the year was as follows: Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, head curator of 

 biology, National Museum, chairman; Dr. George P. Merrill, head 

 curator of geology, National Museum ; Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, Bureau 

 of American Ethnology; Dr. William M. Mann, director, National 

 Zoological Park; Mr. W. P. True, editor of the Institution, secretary; 

 Dr. Marcus Benjamin, editor of the National Museum; and Mr. 

 Stanley Searles, editor of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



LIBRARY 



The Smithsonian library comprises the Smithsonian deposit 

 in the Library of Congress, which is the main library of the Insti- 

 tution, 8 divisional libraries relating to the work of the bureaus 

 under the Institution, and 36 sectional libraries maintained for use in 

 individual offices. The accessions for the year, exclusive of those 

 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, were 6,838 volumes and 

 16,203 pamphlets and charts, a total of 23,041 items. This brings the 

 estimated total of volumes, pamphlets, and charts in the Smithsonian 

 library to 709,584, not including the library of the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology, at present administered separately by the chief of 

 that bureau, or the thousands of volumes awaiting completion or as 

 yet uncatalogued. 



The staff was augmented by provision for a second position of 

 assistant librarian to act as chief of the accessions department — the 

 department which acquires publications for the library, partly by 

 purchase and gift, but mainly by exchange. 



The two most noteworthy gifts for the year were the Chinese 

 library of the late William W. Rockhill, consisting of 1,100 volumes, 

 presented by Mrs. Eockhill, and a collection of 3,500 serial and 

 society publications presented by the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. A large number of the latter, including 

 some that were out of print and very rare, were needed to complete 

 sets in the various libraries of the Institution. 



As usual many volumes and parts of volumes wanted for the 

 Smithsonian deposit in the Library of Congress were obtained, and 

 with the reorganization of the accessions department it is expected 

 that this service will soon be greatly enlarged. Notable progress 

 was made on the union catalogue of the Smithsonian library, espe- 



