10!J 



" The librarian compiled Brooklyn Botanic Garden Leaflets, 

 Series XVII, nos. i-^. dated A])ril 3, 1929, entitled 'A Selected 

 List of Publications on (iardenin^- and Wild j^'lowers.' An edi- 

 torial comment regarding this list appeared in the American 

 Library Association " Book List " for June, 1929. The Mac- 

 millan Company asked for co])ies to be distril)uted to public li- 

 braries bv their salesmen in their several territories, and also 

 requested permission ttj place a number on the table containing 

 their ])ooks on gardening at the annual meeting of the American 

 Library Association in Washington, D. C The Chief of the 

 Circulation Department of the Xew ^'ork Public Library also 

 desired us to forward coi)ies so that he could distribute them to 

 various branches of the New ^'ork Public Library. 



" The librarian com])iled also, at the request of our horticul- 

 turist, a list of several hundred horticultural organizations in the 

 United States for the use of the National Association of 

 Gardeners. 



" The nursery and seed catalogues have been rearranged in two 

 new vertical files which will greatly facilitate their use. 



" Special exhibits of books were arranged for the y\nnual 

 Spring Lispection and for each of the Flower Days, and of seed 

 and nursery catalogues during the week of March 4 to 9. Special 

 notices were sent to all Botanic Garden members calling attention 

 to the display of catalogues." 



The above brief and characteristically modest report falls far 

 short of conveying an adequate impression of the amount of 

 devotion and i)ainstaking labor which the w^riter nnist have given 

 to bringing the library to its ])rcsent state. 



Use of the Library 



The total recorded use of the library for the year 1929 was 

 5,396 and the number of books lent to the Garden staff 901. To 

 one accustomed to the work of a busy public reference library, 

 this record seems small. Ilowever, one has to keep in mind that 

 much of the use of a general public library is hurried and super- 

 ficial while, in a highly specialized library like our own, the exact 

 reverse is true. Li addition to its use by the curators and Garden 

 staff who are engaged in scientific research and educational work. 



