REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 129 
previous six years, and almost as many as were bound altogether 
during the previous five years. When these volumes return to the 
shelves they will greatly improve the appearance and increase the 
usefulness of the library. 
Preliminary steps were taken toward modernizing and expanding 
the catalogue, a work that during the coming year will be especially 
emphasized, for one of the chief needs of the library now is a dic- 
tionary catalogue, both of the main collections and of the sectional 
libraries. 
Mention might be made, too, of the fact that the exhibition set 
of Smithsonian publications was packed and sent, together with the 
corresponding sets of the publications of the National Museum 
and the Bureau of American Ethnology, to Philadelphia, for exhi- 
bition at the Sesquicentennial. These sets, with the International 
Catalogue of Scientific Literature, comprise nearly 900 volumes. 
INTERLIGRARY LENDING 
The library of the Smithsonian Institution is primarily for the 
use of those employed in the Institution and its branches, and of 
others who come to it from outside for the purpose of research, but 
it extends the privilege of borrowing from its collections to all 
libraries. For many years this privilege has been taken advantage of 
increasingly. 
No restrictions are placed on the loans, except that the librarian 
who borrows the material is expected to take the usual care of it and 
return it in a reasonable time. He also, of course, pays express 
charges both ways, for it is customary to send material and have it 
returned either by messenger, as in the case of Washington libraries, 
or by express. 
Some books, especially duplicates, are occasionally sent out on 
semipermanent charge, to be used as an aid in special research, and to 
be kept as long as needed, or until called for. Rare and valuable 
books are seldom lent, but they may always be consulted at the 
library. Photostat copies of parts of them may also be made if 
desired. 
The library not only lends material; it borrows it, too, and that 
almost daily. Some of this, especially from the Library of Con- 
gress, is sent to the library on semipermanent deposit, and consti- 
tutes a very important addition to its regular working collections. 
The libraries with which the Smithsonian library carries on most 
regularly this exchange of material are, besides the Library of Con- 
gress, those of the Department of Agriculture, the Geological Sur- 
vey, the Hygienic Laboratory, the Army Medical Museum, the 
Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Bureau of Fisheries, the Weather 
