154 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 194 7 



Of the current accessions, 7,265 were cataloged or entered as addi- 

 tions to the Smithsonian Deposit in the Library of Congress, and most 

 of these were additions to the great Deposit sets of publications of 

 scientific institutions and learned societies, so important to research. 

 Some of them were continuations of series that formed part of the 

 original Smithsonian Deposit in 1866. In addition, all documents, 

 dissertations, and other publications on subjects not found to be of 

 immediate interest to the Institution were sent directly upon receipt 

 to the Library of Congress, and they numbered 13,422. 



Most but not all of the 10,749 publications transferred to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, the Army Medical Library, the Geological Sur- 

 vey, and other libraries of the Government, had been received during 

 the year. 



Our large collection of duplicates continued to be drawn upon in 

 aid of destroyed libraries abroad, and 31,781 pieces were turned over 

 to the American Book Center for this purpose. 



The cataloging of currently received material was well kept up on 

 the whole in spite of the handicaps of inadequate staffing of this 

 vitally important part of the library's work. There is always the 

 problem of the huge "backlog" of poorly or completely uncataloged 

 older material, which is not only serious in itself but which inevitably 

 slows up some of the work of cataloging new material which is related 

 to it. 



The bad housing of the library continues to be the most obvious 

 and distressing of its problems. The progressive deterioration of its 

 fine collections caused by overcrowding and lack of funds for binding 

 is deplorable, while the inadequacies of its reading and reference rooms, 

 the scattered and inconvenient locations of its shelves and stack rooms, 

 and the absence of proper work rooms for the staff, all make its 

 service to the Institution increasingly difficult. 



SUMMARIZED STATISTICS 



Accessions 



