APPENDIX 9 



REPORT ON THE LIBRARY 



Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report on the activi- 

 ties of the library of the Smithsonian Institution for the fiscal year 

 ended June 30, 1928 : 



THE LIBRARY 



The Smithsonian library, or, more properly speaking, the Smith- 

 sonian library system, comprises the Smithsonian deposit in 

 the Library of Congress, which is the main library of the Institu- 

 tion, the librar}^ of the United States National Museum, the Smith- 

 sonian office library, the Langley aeronautical library, the technologi- 

 cal library, and the libraries of the Astrophysical Observatory, the 

 National Gallery of Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, and the National 

 Zoological Park, together with the 36 sectional libraries of the Na- 

 tional Museum. To tlie^e may later be added a tenth divisional 

 librar}^, namely, that of the Bureau of American Ethnology. AVith 

 its 700,000 volumes, pamphlets, and charts, chiefly scientific in char- 

 acter, including especially society and serial publications, the Smith- 

 sonian library not only is an invaluable instrument in tlie work of 

 the Institution and indirectly of other research institutions tlirougli- 

 out the country, but represents an important link in the chain of 

 libraries in the service of the Federal Government. 



THE STAFF 



It is gratifying to rei:)ort that during the last fiscal year a way 

 was found of providing for a second position of assistant librarian — • 

 the first, that of chief of the reference department, having been 

 established two years before. This new position will be get up 

 immediately and will be filled by the appointment of a chief for 

 the accessions department — the department wliich acquires publica- 

 tions for the library, partly by purchase and gift but mainly by 

 exchange; which carries on an extensive correspondence, particu- 

 larly with the learned societies and institutions of the world, keeps 

 a file of this correspondence and a record of the items acquired, 

 with their sources, and assigns them to the divisions and sections 

 of the library in which they promise to be of most use. 



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