TJEPORT OF THE SECIJETAHY 129 



attractive, several ferns, palms, and other plants — the f]:enoroiis gift 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry — were placed on the floor and in 

 the gallery. The collections in this room were entirely reorganized, 

 the less used books being removed to other parts of the library, and 

 those in constant demand by the curators put where they would be 

 immediately available. Among the latter were the standard refer- 

 ence works that belong to the libi-nry and a set of Smithsonian publi- 

 cations. To this room were also transferred from the Smithsonian 

 Building the current files of scientific and popular periodicals, and 

 the employees' library. Finally, a trained assistant was put in 

 charge, and the room opened to the public, with the result that the 

 library increased its usefulness many fold, not only by making its 

 collections more accessible to the curators, but by providing material 

 and information, both directly and indirectly, for the readers and 

 other visitors who came to it daily. 



The accessions for the year are included among those to the 

 Museum library. 



ASiltOPllYSICAL OBSERVATORY LIBRARY 



The library of the Astrophysical Observatory, which occupies part 

 of the main hall of the Smithsonian Building and part of the ob- 

 servatory itself, comprises about 3,767 volumes and 2.725 pamphlets, 

 chiefly on astrophysics and meteorology. It is one of the most impor- 

 tant of the smaller units of the Smithsonian library system, and is 

 of especial value in connection with the well-known researches in 

 solar radiation that are being carried on by the Institution. During 

 the past year the catalogue for this library, which was begun the 

 year before, was finished, and the collections were labeled and rear- 

 ranged. The accessions to the library were 130 volumes, 64 parts of 

 volumes, and 25 pamphlets. The number of volumes bound was 121. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY' LIBRARY 



The library of the Bureau of American Ethnology, which is in 

 the Smithsonian Building, consists almost exclusively of works on 

 anthropology, particularly those pertaining to the American abo- 

 rigines, and covers especially the linguistics, history, archeology, 

 myths, religion, arts, sociology, and general culture of the American 

 Indian. It contains 27,921 volumes and 16,177 pamphlets. In its 

 special data files are manuscript material, photographs, Indian 

 vocabularies, etc. The activities of this library for the last fiscal 

 year are described in the report of the chief of the bureau, by whom 

 the library is administered. 



