Report on the International Exchange 



Service 



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

 of the International Exchange Service for the fiscal year ended June 

 30, 1962 : 



In 1848 the Smithsonian Institution issued the first of its long 

 series of scientific publications. In addition to the American dis- 

 tribution, several hundred copies were sent to scientific and other 

 learned institutions abroad; in return, many valuable publications 

 were received from the foreign mstitutions. To continue this de- 

 sirable international exchange of scientific information, the Smith- 

 sonian Institution appointed agents in a nmnber of foreign countries 

 to facilitate exchanges. In 1851, the privilege of utilizing the Smith- 

 sonian exchange system was offered to other learned bodies, and this 

 opportmiity for wide distribution of scientific publications was so 

 eagerly grasped that the system grew rapidly. Thus began a Smith- 

 sonian service that increased steadily in usefulness, and the quantity 

 of material has increased fi'om a few hundred pounds of publications 

 transmitted in 1849, to more than 900,000 pounds in the fiscal year 

 1962. 



From the beginning, U.S. Government departments made use of 

 the service for the exchange of their publications for the publications 

 of other governments. In 1886 in Brussels, a formal agreement for 

 the exchange betAveen countries, not only of governmental documents 

 but also of scientific and literary publications, was ratified by eight 

 nations. With the ratification of this Convention by the United 

 States, the Smithsonian Institution system of exchange of publications 

 was given official sanction and the Smithsonian Institution continued 

 to carry on this important work and was recognized as the official 

 agency of the United States for the international exchange of 

 publications. 



The work of the International Exchange Service serves as a means 

 of developing and executing, in part, the broad and comprehensive 

 objective of the Smithsonian Institution, "the diffusion of knowledge." 

 Over the years the operations of the Service have affected most bene- 

 ficially the libraries of all learned institutions in the United States 

 and have helped to promote the rapid growth of science through 

 facilitating the international exchange of ideas. Libraries through- 

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