Report on the International 

 Exchange Service 



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

 of the International Exchange Service for the fiscal year ended June 

 30, 1960: 



The Smithsonian Institution is the official United States agency for 

 the exchange with other nations of governmental, scientific, and 

 literary publications. The International Exchange Service, initiated 

 more than a century ago by the Smithsonian Institution for the inter- 

 change of scientific publications between learned societies and indi- 

 viduals in the United States and those of foreign countries, serves 

 as a means of developing and executing in part the broad and com- 

 prehensive objective, "the difi'usion of knowledge." It was later 

 designated by the United States Government as the agency for the 

 transmission of official documents to selected depositories throughout 

 the world, and it continues to execute the exchanges pursuant to 

 conventions, treaties, and other international agreements. 



The number of packages of publications received for transmission 

 during the year was 1,141,998, an increase of 12,522 packages over 

 the previous fiscal year. The weight of the packages received was 

 877,636 pounds, an increase of 110,247 pounds. The average weight of 

 the individual package was 12.29 ounces as compared to the 10.87-ounce 

 average for the fiscal year 1959. 



Publications were received from approximately 250 domestic 

 sources including United States Government bureaus and departments, 

 congressional committees and members of Congress, imiversities, agri- 

 cultural experiment stations, learned societies, organizations, and 

 individuals for transmission to foreign addressees in more than 150 

 foreign countries. Publications were received from 59 foreign coun- 

 tries for distribution to addressees in the United States. 



The publications received from foreign sources for addressees in 

 the United States and from domestic sources for shipment abroad are 

 classified as shown in the following table: 



177 



