41*^ 



L108] 



Is the progress made by Professor Jewell in eoinnleliiio- his plan of stereo- 

 typing catalogues with separate titles, described in llie last report. 



To reduce this plan to practice a series of original experiments were re- 

 quired, involving the expenditure ol" much time and labor. For this purpose, 

 in preference to the usual method of stereotyping, a new one, invented 

 by Mr. Josiah Warren, of Indiana, has been adopted on the recommendation 

 of a committee to whom it was referred for examination. It is a fact well 

 known to inventois, that however simple the theoretical plan of effecting 

 a desired object may appear, a series of unforeseen difiicuties must be en- 

 countered in the details, before the idea can be realized m actual results. 

 These difficulties, in the present case, it is believed have been overcome, and 

 the plan is nov*'" ready to be applied to the formation of a general and uni- 

 form catalogue of the libraries of the country. The course proposed is 

 first to proceed with the catalogues of the library of the institution in ac- 

 cordance with the rules recommendeil by the commission appointed to re- 

 port on this subject. This, stereotyped by the new^ process, may be dis- 

 tributed as a model lor the other libraries which may adopt the plan. After 

 all parts of the plan have thus been thoroughly tried, it will be desirable to 

 commence on some large collection. The late accident which has happened 

 to the library of Congress will induce the necessity of a new catalogue, 

 and it is hoped that a liberal and enlightened policy will lead to the adoption 

 of the Smithsonian plan. This will not only enable tlic government to issue, 

 at a trifling expense, a new catalogue every year, with all the additions in 

 their proper place, but also to assist in giving to the country an improved 

 system of cataloguing, and facihtate the production of a general catalogue 

 of all the libraries of the country. 



Since the publication of the account of Mr. Jewett's plan of forming 

 general catalogues, the invention has been claimed separately by two indi- 

 viduals in Europe. It is true, the want of such a plan lias long been felt, 

 and a general idea may have been conceived as to how it might be accom- 

 plished, but no attempts have been made to reduce it to practice, and indeed 

 liad they been made, they could not have succeeded, and would have done 

 injury to the cause. The conditions necessary to success never before ex- 

 isted, and a premature attempt always tends to lessen public confidence in 

 an enterprise, when the proper time for its actual ac^complislnnent arrives. 

 Besides this, there is a wide difference between the mere susxsestino; the 



... , ... Op p 



possibility of apian, and actually overcoming the difficulties which arise at 

 every step in reducing it to practice. 



With reference to the copyright law, something ought to be done to put 

 the whole matter on a better footing. I repeat the assertion before made, 

 that this law, as it now exists, in^poses a tax on the Institution, without an 

 adequate return. The great majority of the books received are such as are 

 found in almost every public and private library ; but very few of them 

 would ever be purchased by the Institution, and are consequently dear at 

 any price, even that of shelf-room and attendance, not to mention cost of 

 tranjsj)ortation and of furnishing the certificates. 



Granting tlie proposition that it is important a copy of every book origi- 

 nally published in this country should be somewhere preserved, it does not 

 follow that the Smithsonian fund ought to be burdened with the expense 

 of this charge. 



If they should be preserved, it becomes the duty of Congress to provide 

 for their care, as much as it does for that of the models of the Patent Office, 



