116 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1923 



In the following reports of libraries administered under the 

 Smithsonian Institution, a decrease will be noted in accessions, the 

 natural consequence of the decline in publication abroad and the fact 

 that war accumulations were taken care of last year. 



SMITHSONIAN MAIN LIBRARY 



The additions to the main library, numbering 5,719, have been 

 transmitted to the Smithsonian deposit in the Library of Congress, 

 where they are made available to the public. Documents of for- 

 eign Governments, received in exchange for Smithsonian publica- 

 tions, have been transmitted in accordance with the established 

 practice, without stamping or recording. The number of publica- 

 tions accessioned has now reached 893,307. 



Theses were received from universities and institutes of technology 

 abroad located at the following places: Amsterdam, Basel, Berlin, 

 Bern, Bonn, Breslau, Clermont, Copenhagen, Delft, Dresden, Frei- 

 burg, Ghent, Giessen, Halle, Helsingfors, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Konigs- 

 berg, Leipzig, Lund, Rostock, Tokyo, Tubingen, Utrecht, Zurich. 



A number of universities have temporarily discontinued the prac- 

 tice of sending the complete thesis, owing to the increased cost of 

 printing, and are now submitting them in abstract only. 



Missing parts of incomplete sets were requested in exchange, as 

 in previous years, with an increased percentage secured, although 

 there was a decline both in wants requested and in wants secured. 

 Of 2,174 publications requested, 921 were secured, a percentage of 

 43.2 as against 39.1 for last year. 



SMITHSONIAN OFFICE LIBRARY 



The number of publications loaned from the office library was 

 2,756. The accessions numbered 378, of which 347 were volumes and 

 the remainder parts and pamphlets. Attention should be called to 

 the fact that no binding has been done for the office library during 

 the last six years, owing to lack of funds. 



The progress of the cataloguing in the general library catalogue 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, kept in the office library, is shown 

 by the following statistics : 



1922-1923 1921-1922 



Volumes catalogued 6, 341 6, 502 



Volumes recatalogued 109 55 



Charts catalogued 198 160 



Typed cards 3, 870 4, 243 



Library of Congress cards filed 858 592 



New titles added to author catalogue 2, 299 1, 614 



Of the special collections in the office library, mention has been 

 previously made of activities in connection with the aeronautical col- 

 lection, the Watts de Peyster collection, and the employees' library. 



