95 
I was appointed Secretary-Treasurer of the American Nature 
Study Society at the last meeting of this society, in December. 
Respectfully submitted, 
ELLEN Eppy SHAw, 
Curator of Elementary Instruction. 
REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN FOR 1928 
Dr. C. Stuart GacEr, Drrector. 
Sir: I take pleasure in submitting herewith my report for the 
year ending December 31, 1928. 
he total number of publications received was 9,740. 1,650 
volumes were added to the library, as compared with 622 volumes 
during 1927. 1,105 newly bound volumes were collated and 
prepared for circulation. The increase in pamphlets and parts 
over the previous year is 847. 
The Library now comprises a collection of almost 23,000 vol- 
umes and pamphlets. Our current periodical and serial file ap- 
proximates goo titles, and from this source, we received over 7,390 
numbers, or, parts of publications, by exchange, gift, purchase, or 
by publication. 
Reference Work 
We have had, as usual, our quota of teachers, students, artists, 
authors, nurserymen, landscape architects, journalists, and even 
bookshops, asking for help, either in person or through cor- 
respondence, or by telephone. Over 1,350 reference questions 
were answered in the library, and of these one-third were asked 
y the general public. — 
How deeply rooted the connection is between the Brooklyn 
Botanic Garden and the practical life of the financial and com- 
mercial world may be shown by two or three instances here cited. 
Two of the largest utility companies of Manhattan, having <a 
common electrical laboratory, sent one of their pathologists for 
an article which contained an illustration of a chisel forceps. 
This forceps would enable him to obtain samples for a culture of 
the diseased part of timber without splitting the wood. A firm of 
financial agents and bankers, of lower New York, telephoned 
