REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923. 29 



and the miscellaneous printing and binding. Many contributions 

 based on material in the collections of the Museum are printed by 

 other bureaus of the Government and by outside sources. All of 

 the publications above referred to are cited in the list of publica- 

 tions at the back of this report. 



The distribution of volumes and separates to libraries and in- 

 dividuals on the regular mailing lists aggregated 83,566 copies, be- 

 sides 14,240 copies supplied in response to special application. This 

 by no means indicates the number of Museum publications put in 

 circulation during the year, for one of its papers, on the mosquitoes 

 of the country, proved so valuable that the War and Navy Depart- 

 ments arranged through the Superintendent of Documents for fur- 

 ther liberal distributions of the paper, and the Bureau of Public 

 Health reprinted it in a large edition. 



LIBRARY. 



A most essential unit in the pursuit of the scientific work of the 

 Museum is its library. At the close of the year this collection of 

 books comprised 60,681 volumes and 95,594 pamphlets, a total of 

 156,275 titles. The increments of the year were 2,023 volumes and 

 4,185 pamphlets, received mainly through gifts and exchanges. 

 Aside from gifts from scientific and other institutions and societies, 

 much valuable material was donated by members of the staff of the 

 Museum as in preceding years. The number of books loaned by the 

 library was 11,106, and as many more were consulted without being 

 taken from the buildings. 



Funds for the purchase of books and for binding and renovating 

 books were exceedingly limited. It was necessary to confine ac- 

 quisitions to continuations of series previously begun and publica- 

 tions needed for immediate use in connection with the work of the 

 Museum. The number of books that can be bound in any one year 

 is continually diminishing. This year but 398 books were bound — 

 less than a quarter the number bound five years ago. 



Typewritten lists of original articles appearing in scientific peri- 

 odicals reaching the Institution for the Smithsonian deposit at the 

 Library of Congress have since November been circulated daily 

 among the head curators of the Museum for their information and 

 for dissemination among the staff generally. So popular are these 

 lists that there is a demand from other Government departments and 

 research organizations for copies which the Museum is unable to 

 supply owing to lack of mechanical equipment and assistants. It is 

 regretted that the library is not able to avail itself of this oppor- 

 tunity for rendering more extensive service in the field of scientific 

 bibliography. 



