94 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953 



shipped to the foreign exchange bureaus was 2,649, or 409 less than 

 for the previous year. Of these boxes 802 were for depositories of 

 full sets of United States Government documents, these publica- 

 tions being furnished in exchange for the official publications of for- 

 eign governments which are received for deposit in the Library of 

 Congress. The number of packages forwarded by mail and by means 

 other than freight was 205,666. 



Owing to the insufficiency of funds for transportation it was neces- 

 sary to suspend shipments to the foreign exchange bureaus on March 

 15. Fortunately, the Institution was able to secure a grant of $6,000 

 from the National Science Foundation for the transportation of ex- 

 change publications. This was made available to the International 

 Exchange Service in the latter part of May, and between that time 

 and the end of June $5,110.18 was expended for the shipment of 

 98,945 pounds that would otherwise have been delayed pending the 

 receipt of the appropriation for the fiscal year of 1954. The remain- 

 ing amount will be used in July pending the availability of the new 

 appropriation. The grant made it possible for the International Ex- 

 change Service to effect delivery of these important scientific publica- 

 tions to the foreign addressees at least a month earlier than would 

 otherwise have been possible. It not only eliminated the necessity for 

 additional storage space, decreased handling, and lessened the prob- 

 able percentage of error in transmission, but also obviated the neces- 

 sity for a great deal of correspondence regarding the nonreceipt of 

 publications. 



Transportation rates continue to increase and are primarily respon- 

 sible for the 235,422 pounds of publications that remained unshipped 

 at the end of the fiscal year. 



No shipments are being made to China, North Korea, or Rumania. 

 Publications intended for addressees in Formosa and formerly sent 

 through the Chinese Exchange Bureau at Nanking are now forwarded 

 by direct mail. 



Regulations of the Office of International Trade, Department of 

 Commerce, provide that each package of publications exported bear a 

 general license symbol and a legend "Export License Not Required," 

 and the International Exchange Service accepts for transmission to 

 foreign destinations only those packages of publications to which the 

 general license symbol and legend have been applied by the consignor. 



FOREIGN DEPOSITORIES OF GOVERNMENTAL DOCUMENTS 



The number of sets of United States official publications received 

 by the Exchange Service for transmission abroad in return for the 

 official publications sent by foreign governments for deposit in the 

 Library of Congress is now 105 (63 full and 42 partial sets), listed 



