APPENDIX 8 



REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF 

 SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the foUowing report on the opera- 

 tions of the United States Regional Bureau of the International 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature for the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1933. 



The regular routine work of the Bureau was continued, consisting 

 mainly of recording necessary data of current scientific literature 

 published in the United States to be immediately available for 

 indexing and classifying purposes whenever international conditions 

 make it possible to resume publication. In addition to this routine 

 work efforts to reorganize and refinance the organization were con- 

 tinued but without success as, owing to the long continued financial 

 depression, it was impossible to obtain from the other cooperating 

 countries the necessary monetary commitments. Efforts were 

 also made to obtain, in this country, a capital fund to meet the whole 

 cost of printing, a plan having been formulated showing that with a 

 revolving fund of $75,000 available, publication could be resumed 

 and publishing thereafter become self-supporting. The time, how- 

 ever, was not ripe for obtaining necessary financial aid from either 

 private donors or endowed foundations. Therefore, Congress having 

 failed to provide the usual funds to continue the work of the Bureau, 

 the work was suspended at the end of the fiscal year. As all the 

 records and accumulated data are still intact in the Smithsonian 

 Institution, it is hoped and expected that it will still be found possible 

 to reorganize this important, unique international enterprise, as 

 notliing has appeared to take its place and the want of the classified 

 catalogue to the world's literature of science is keenly felt aUke by 

 librarians and workers in all fields of science. 



Interest in and aid to bibliographies of scientific pubUcations was 

 one of the first and has always been one of the main interests of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. Since 1901 these interests have centered in 

 the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, which through 

 international cooperation then began the pubHcation of a complete 

 catalogue and index of the current scientific literature of the world. 

 War chaos made it necessary to suspend operations in 1922. 

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