Report on the International 

 Exchange Service 



Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report on the activities 

 of the International Exchange Service for the fiscal year ended June 

 30,1954: 



The Smithsonian Institution is the official United States agency 

 for the exchange with other nations of governmental, scientific, and 

 literary publications. The International Exchange Service, initiated 

 by the Smithsonian Institution in the early years of its existence for 

 the interchange of scientific publications between learned societies 

 and individuals in the United States and those of foreign countries, 

 serves as a means of developing and executing in part the broad 

 and comprehensive objective, "the diffusion of knowledge." It was 

 later designated by the United States Government as the agency for 

 the transmission of official documents to selected depositories through- 

 out the world, and it continues to execute the exchanges pursuant to 

 conventions, treaties, and other international agreements. 



Although the weight of the packages received during the year for 

 transmission decreased by 57,782 pounds to the total of 797,320 

 pounds, the number of packages decreased by only 1,429 to the total of 

 1,020,509. The average weight of the individual package was only 

 12.49 ounces, an indication that the publications now being trans- 

 mitted are current publications rather than large lots of accumulated 

 publications. 



The publications received from foreign sources for addressees in 

 the United States and from domestic sources for shipment abroad are 

 classified as shown in the following table: 



137 



