12 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1931 



will be apparent from the fact that nearly $120,000 is now sjjent for 

 printing each year; at certain periods of the year as many as 60 

 separate publications are in press at one time, some of them con- 

 taining hundreds of manuscript pages, and most of them highly 

 technical papers requiring careful editing and proofreading. It is 

 hoped that the increased efficiency from a business standpoint of 

 the recent reorganization will result in releasing more time of the 

 small editorial staff for straight editorial work, to the end that 

 Smithsonian publications may appear with greater accuracy and 

 prom.ptness. 



The Institution's publications constitute its primary means for 

 accomplishing the diffusion of knowledge. They are issued by the 

 Institution proper and by the bureaus under its administrative 

 direction and appear in 13 distinct series, as follows: 



Smithsonian Institution : 



Annual report (with general appendix made up of selected articles review- 

 ing the year's advances in science). 



Contributions to Knowledge (suspended). 



Miscellaneous eollections. 



Special puhlicatious. 

 National Museum : 



Annual report. 



Bulletin. 



Proceedings. 



Contributions from the National Herbarium. 

 Bureau of American Ethnology : 



Annual report (with accompanying papers on ethnological subjects). 



Bulletin. 

 Astrophysical Observatory : 



Annals. 

 National Gallery of Art: 



Catalogue. 

 Freer Gallery of Art : 



Publications. 



Xinety-eight volumes and pamphlets were published during the 

 year in these various series, and 205,711 copies of Smithsonian pub- 

 lications were distributed. This number included 27,425 volumes and 

 separates of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 25,984 vol- 

 umes and separates of the Smithsonian annual reports, 4,627 Smith- 

 sonian special publications, 86,680 publications of the National 

 Museum, and 29,475 publications of the Bureau of American Eth- 

 nology. The titles and authors of the year's publications will be 

 found in the report of the editor, Apf)endix 11. 



LIBRARY 



The Smithsonian library contains about 800,000 volumes, pam- 

 phlets, and charts, pertaining largely to science and technology. It 

 comprises 10 divisional libraries, one of which — the National Museum 



