Report on the Library 



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

 ties of the Smithsonian library for the fiscal year ended June 30, 

 1956: 



The acquisitions section recorded the receipt of 78,715 publications 

 during the year, the larger number of which came, as usual, from 

 scientific, technical, and cultural organizations all over the world, 

 in exchange for Smithsonian publications. There were 237 new ex- 

 changes arranged, and issuing agencies, new and old, were generous in 

 supplying 3,124 publications, mostly parts of periodicals and other 

 serials, needed to fill gaps in the collections. 



In moving its quarters from the Arts and Industries Building, the 

 American Association of Museums generously turned over to the 

 library more than 30,000 books, periodicals, and pamphlets which had 

 served their purpose in the offices of the Association. Many items 

 from this rich collection have already been added to the library, some 

 12,000 pieces found to be duplicates or otherwise not needed were 

 sent to the United States Book Exchange for exchange credit, and 

 the checking and processing of the remainder of the material are still 

 in progress. 



The library is greatly indebted to other organizations and to the 

 many individual donors who sent multiple or single gifts of books 

 and papers. Many members of the staff of the Institution were 

 thoughtful and generous in making gifts of books and papers fre- 

 quently throughout the year. 



From the estate of the late Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., came 537 volumes 

 selected from Mr. Miller's large personal library. The majority of 

 them were works on mammals and other zoological subjects, but the 

 others reflected the catholic interests and cultivated tastes of this dis- 

 tinguished former member of the Smithsonian staff. 



Mrs. John P. Marble's gift of 157 handsomely bound volumes of 

 journals and individual works on geochemistry, from the library of 

 her late husband, was also a noteworthy addition. 



Probably no library ever has enough money for the purchase of 

 books, and the Smithsonian library is certainly no exception. Faced 

 with the responsibility of serving the whole Institution with the litera- 

 ture needed by the curators and other specialists working in many 

 different subject fields, books and journals that cannot be obtained in 

 exchange or as gifts must be selected with great care for purchase from 



193 



