APPENDIX 9 



REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF 

 SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on tlio 

 operations of the United States Re<j:ional Bureau of the Interna- 

 tional Catalogue of Scientific Literature for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1930. 



Since publication of the catalogue was suspended by the London 

 Central Bureau, owing to advanced costs in printing and the ina- 

 bility of the cooperating European countries to meet these advances 

 with their depreciated and unstable financial resources, it has been 

 tlie policy of this bureau to spend only so much of its annual con- 

 gressional appropriation as is necessary to keep the organization 

 alive i)ending the time when reorganization is possible and publica- 

 tion can be resumed. The gross expenditure for the past year was 

 $5,457.96 out of the appropriation of $7,885. 



Tn the several preceding reports conditions aifecting the catalogue 

 due to the late war were noted, and in the last report definite sug- 

 gestions were made regarding possible means of refinancing the 

 enterprise and estimates of the sum needed were submitted. Owing 

 to the still unsettled political and financial conditions abroad, no 

 definite scheme for reorganization has 3'et been submitted by the 

 director of the central bureau or the chairman of the executive com- 

 mittee, in whom authority for this purpose is vested. 



The proposals looking toward reorganization made in the last 

 aiiTuial report were discussed in an article entitled " The Interna- 

 tional Catalogue of Scientific Literature Again," by Dr. Ernest 

 Cushing Richardson, consultant in bibliography and research, 

 Library of Congress, published in "Science," June 20, 1930 (Vol. 

 LXXI, No. 1851 pp. 635-637), and as Doctor Richardson is one of 

 the great international authorities on bibliography and on the needs 

 of librarians it is thought advisable to quote at length his remarks, 

 hoi)ing thereby to aid the effort being made to refinance the catalogue. 



THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIKNTIITC LITERATURE AGAIN 



Tlio proposal suKKost(>d by (ho Sinitlisoninii Institution to rcvivo (he pulili- 

 calion of the Infornationa! CataloRue of Sciciitiflc IJtfrnture on a very inodpst 

 Imt w<Ml consi(lcre<l budRpt is a chnllenno to iiU scientists and librnrians. sind 

 to all trust agencies which are spending good money for the promotion of 

 research. 



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