SECRETARY'S REPORT 195 



there is a member of the library staff in charge of the sectional library. 

 Most of the 4,247 currently acquired publications assigned to sectional 

 libraries during the year probably circulated within the respective 

 sections, in addition to the circulation of the books and periodicals 

 previously assigned. No reasonably accurate numerical estimate of 

 the actual use of books throughout the Institution can be made. 



The reference service of the library is the most difficult to measure 

 statistically. To say that more than 13,000 reference questions were 

 answered is to give no idea of the time, ingenuity, and imagination 

 required to find the answers to many of the more perplexing questions 

 asked. There was a time, not too long ago, when little was expected 

 of librarians except to be custodians of books. The prime require- 

 ment of the library nowadays is service from and through books. 

 Many years ago, Lord Rayleigh said, "By a fiction as remarkable as 

 any to be found in law, what has once been published ... is usually 

 spoken of as 'known' and it is often forgotten that the rediscovery in 

 the library may be a more difficult and uncertain process than the first 

 discovery in the laboratory." All the modern refinements of cata- 

 loging and the invention of fabulous fact-finding push-button ma- 

 chines are directed toward making "rediscovery" easy, but in the last 

 analysis the ultimate dependence is still upon human brains and 

 skills. 



For the first time in many years, a much-increased allotment for 

 library binding made it possible not only to send current periodicals 

 to the bindery as soon as each volume was completed, but to reduce the 

 arrearage of binding or rebinding of older periodicals and books to 

 a very considerable extent. It is gratifying to report that 8,016 vol- 

 umes were sent to the bindery, and that 1,386 worn and fragile volumes 

 requiring special handling were expertly repaired in the library. 



There were several major changes in the staff during the year. 

 The death of Mrs. Hope Hanna Simmons, chief of the acquisitions 

 section, on June 16, 1956, was a sad loss. Mrs. Simmons had served 

 the library most efficiently since 1927. 



Miss Minna Gill, chief of the catalog section, resigned on November 

 30, 1955, and Mrs. Ruth W. Dawson, also of the catalog section, retired 

 on December 31, after more than 30 years of service. Miss Ruth 

 Blanchard was appointed chief of the catalog section on January 23, 

 1956. 



The most serious handicaps to good library service continue to be 

 the scattered and inefficiently arranged housing of the library, over- 

 crowding of the shelves, the need for a larger staff of trained assist- 

 ants, and for more money to buy books. 



