APPENDIX 8 



REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF 

 SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE 



SiK : I have the Iionor to submit the following 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, 1924. 



As has been stated in several previous annual reports, political and 

 financial conditions in Europe, caused by the late war, forced a 

 suspension of the printing and publishing of the International Cata- 

 logue after the fourteenth annual issue had been completed in July, 

 1921. A total of 240 volumes had been published up to the 

 time that printing was suspended. This series of publications con- 

 stitutes a classified index catalogue of the scientific literature of 

 the world for 14 years, from 1901 to 1914, inclusive, and furnishes 

 the only example of such work ever published. In spite of numer- 

 ous attempts to resume publication it has been found impossible 

 to do so in the face of the continued unsettled condition of inter- 

 national monetary standards. The continued high price of materials 

 and labor entering into publishing expenses brings the cost of the 

 10,000 pages of each annual issue of the catalogue up to impossible 

 figures when expressed in teniis of the depreciated currency of many 

 of the cooperating countries. 



In 1922, finding that immediate resumption of publication was 

 impossible, an international convention was held in Brussels to con- 

 sider means whereby the organization could be held intact. A 

 resolution to this end was suggested by this regional bureau and 

 was unanimously agreed to. The resolution was: 



That the convention is of opinion that the international organization should 

 be kept in being through mutual agreement to continue as far as possible the 

 work of the regional bureaus until such time as it may be economically pos- 

 sible to resume publication. 



The other countries represented at this convention, as well as 

 the United States, have since that time lived up to the spirit of this 

 resolution. 



The present aim of this bureau is to collect and record the data 

 necessary to index the current scientific publications of the United 

 States without attempting to classify the subjects of the papers 

 themselves, for before publication is resumed it will be necessary 

 to completely revise the classification schedules heretofore used in 

 order to keep abreast with ever advancing scientific discoveries and 



in 



