APPENDIX 8 



REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF 

 SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the op- 

 erations of the United States Regional Bureau of the International 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature for the fiscal year ending June 

 30, 1925 : 



As has been stated in previous annual reports, actual publication 

 of the catalogue was suspended in 1921 upon completion of the 

 fourteenth annual issue. In conformity with an agreement reached 

 at the International Convention held in Brussels in 1922, the work 

 of this regional bureau, in connnon with others of the organization, 

 has been continued but is confined to the collection of the data neces- 

 sary to index the current scientific literature of the United States 

 for the several years intervening between the cessation of publica- 

 tion and the present time. This procedure not only enables the 

 organization to be kept intact but, when publication is resumed and 

 the classification schedules are revised, data will be available to 

 complete the catalogue. 



It seems advisable to again outline the aim, scope, and need of 

 the catalogue in view of the fact that the many new projects which 

 have sprung up in minor fields, lacldng harmony of purpose and co- 

 operation of effort, have, even when taken collectively, entirely failed 

 to supply the need of an International Catalogue of Scientific 

 Literature. 



The catalogue was started in 1901 with the aim and purpose of 

 meeting the long-felt need of scientific investigators and librarians 

 for an annual authors' and subject catalogue and index to the scien- 

 tific literature of the world, a need felt even more to-day than in 1901. 

 To this end, systematic classification schedules were prepared cover- 

 ing all recognized branches of science and each paper was not only 

 catalogued and indexed, but also classified by means of these sched- 

 ules, the result being equivalent to an analytical digest of each 

 paper. 



Financial support to enable the organization to properly function 

 is urgent. The amount required is not great, measured in present- 

 day terms, but is none the less essential. Between 1901 and the 

 beginning of the war, necessary funds for publication Avere supplied 

 by subscribers in the countries taking part in the enterprise. Only 

 the actual cost of printing and publishing had to be met from these 



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