118 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



Most of the 2,316 letters written by the staff pertained to the 

 exchange interests of the library. They naturally showed a de- 

 crease from 1940, as did the new exchanges arranged for. There 

 were 284 of the latter, however, nearly all of which were on behalf 

 of the Smithsonian Deposit and the libraries of the National Museum, 

 National Collection of Fine Arts, and Astrophysical Observatory. 

 Although the number of want cards handled — 795 — was smaller by 

 87 than the year before, the publications obtained, both by special 

 correspondence and by search among the recently organized and listed 

 duplicates in the west stacks of the Institution, were 8,824, or 1,278 

 more than in 1940. The result of this successful effort was that a 

 great many gaps — some of long standing — were filled in several of | 

 the Smithsonian libraries. In addition to these publications, which * 

 were assigned to the regular sets, others to the number of 6,112 were 

 selected from the duplicate material and put in reserve for use in 

 the future. Among these were many foreign items — not a few of 

 them rare — closely related to the work of the Institution and its 

 branches. Thus again did the surplus collection in the west stacks 

 prove of no little value to the library system. And it bids fair to 

 prove so for years to come, as this rich store of material is made 

 increasingly available through listing and through checking against 

 the needs of the various libraries. 



From time to time, too, during the year files of serials, long and 

 short, not wanted by the libraries were exchanged for publications 

 that otherwise would have had to be purchased. This plan of ex- 

 changing duplicates for other publications essential to the Institu- 

 tion was adopted by the library some years ago and has met with 

 much success. It has added to the collections many valuable items 

 and has placed a considerable number in other research institutions 

 where, instead of standing useless on the Smithsonian shelves, they 

 have contributed their part toward the advancement of knowledge. 

 The year just closed brought to the library, under this special ex- 

 change plan, a goodly number of important monographs and serials 

 that could not be obtained by regular exchange. Among them were 

 such works as Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art, vols, I-III, by 

 Agnes Mongan and Paul J. Sachs ; The Material Basis of Evolution, 

 by Kichard Goldschmidt; The Ferns and Fern Allies of Wisconsin, 

 by R. M. Trj'on, Jr., N. C. Fassett, D. W. Dunlop, and M. E. Diemer; 

 and Nomenclator Zoologicus, in 4 volumes, edited by Sheffield A. ,|i 

 Neave. ^ 



In connection with both its regular and its special exchange 

 activities, the library continued its effort, in cooperation with 

 the offices of publications, to replenish the depleted stock of Smith- 

 sonian publications by encouraging the return of material from 



