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publications of its own, an arrangement of mutual benefit was 
made with other institutions to exchange periodicals. As a result 
of exchanges, gifts, and subscriptions, the periodical and_ serial 
list doubled in the five years through 1920, increasing steadily 
to 1937, when it reached a peak of over 1000 titles received cur- 
rently. General economic conditions and the world war have 
enforced a temporary decrease to about 700 in 1943. In June, 
1929, the librarian stated that: “In these thirteen years the aim 
of the director and the librarian has been to complete the files 
of periodicals, serials and society transactions. The library today 
is rich in these completed sets. e 
The value of current odie to the staff or to any reader 
engaged in a botanical research problem cannot be overestimated. 
It is in these current publications that the most recent discoveries, 
the complete observations and detailed results of experiments are 
to be found. Dr. Gager’s foresight in urging the addition of such 
a large number of them to the Botanic Garden library will be of 
lasting benefit to all who make use of the institution’s resources. 
The working collection of this, as of any library, is composed 
of the separately classified books. The story of the acquisition of 
this collection is, as with the periodicals, the story of the building 
of something of value out of nothing except an idea, a need, and 
the aid of interested friends. On January 1, 1911, when the first 
Librarian took up her duties at the Brook lyn Botanic Garden, she 
found herself at the head of a library which did not possess a 
single book, and which was temporarily housed in the Central 
Museum Building. If the library was, as the agreement between 
the City of New York and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 
Sciences stated, “to be administered as a public, non-circulating 
library open without charge to all properly qualified citizens,” the 
first and obvious need was for books. The lack of books was 
immediately remedied 
oy Dr. Gager’s gift on that day of nine 
books, which formed the foundation for the present brary. Dur- 
ing 1911, over 250 books and several hundred pamphlets were 
—" 
received as gifts or by purchase. The purchases were limited 
mainly to the immediate needs of the staff for reference in laying 
out and planning the grounds, because of lack of space at the time 
to accommodate the volumes. In November of that year, the Com- 
