REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 39 



Societies, Periodicals, etc., ill tli<' Librai.x oC Iho Smitlisonian Tiistitu 

 tiou,'' wbicli was tjoinpli'U' up U) Apiil I, 1687. The new lecoiil is kept 

 on lari^e cards, one lor each iiislitntioii or individual Croui vvlioni the In- 

 stitutiou has received any publication, and on each card is entered the 

 title of everythiiifi" received from the person or institution whose name 

 appears at the head of the card, each marked witii its accession or 

 "day book" number, by means of which reference can be made to the 

 "day-book" for further particulars. These cards are now arranged 

 alphabetically by the name of the donor's residence. 



These regulations have been carried out witiiout failure since the re- 

 organization of the library, though there have been weeks when, owing 

 to the arrival of large invoices througli tlie department of Ibreigu ex- 

 changes, the librarian and his clerks have been hard pressed to com- 

 plete the work in the time specilied. Upwards of live hundred acces- 

 sions have been recorded in a single week. 



The books destined for the Library of Congress are sent regularly on 

 Monday of each week, and it is impossible for publications to be delayed 

 at the Institution for the length of time which was frequently unavoid- 

 able under the former arrangements. It is, however, to be regretted 

 that the Librarian of Congress is unable to take advantage of the in- 

 creased i)romptness of the Smithsonian library administration. Owing, 

 as 1 am informed, to the pressure of coi)yright work and the over- 

 crowded condition of the present quarters of the Library, the chests 

 sent up from the Institution frequently lie for months unopened, so that 

 their contents aie inaccessible to readers. 



This is the more to be regretted as, on acconut of the limited space 

 at the disposal of the Institution for keei)ing books and periodicals, only 

 the most important publi(;ations can be retained for use here. 



The books thus retained for use at the Institution foini part of the 

 National Museum library (the rest of which consists of such publica- 

 tions as are donated directly to the .Aluseum or [)yrchased from the 

 Museum appro[)riation for the use of its curators), and are loaned under 

 certain necessary conditions to the otlicers of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, the Smithsoman editor, the scientiiic staff of the Museum, and 

 such persons as are authorized to l)ori'ow books by special written per- 

 mission from one of the ofticers of the Smithsonian Institution. 



How important these contributions from the Smithsonian accessions 

 are to the Museum library may be seen from the fact that out of the 

 G,0.i:i acce,ssions to the Museum library (including parts of regular 

 serials) during the fiscal year, 3,015, or a trifle more than 50 per cent., 

 were from this source. 



From lack of space in the Museum library it had been practically 

 imi)ossible to provide for the i)roper display of new accessions to the 

 library, and especially of the current numb(U\s of periodicals. At my 

 direction, therefore, the librarian prepared plans for a reading-room in 

 the Sn)ithsonian IJuilding, Thi.s room was opened to readers in the 



