254 



NaMonal Resources Committee 



advance the boundaries of knowledge by the loan of 

 unusual books not readilj' accessible elsewhere. 

 During 1937, in response to 8,171 requests, 8,259 vol- 

 umes were dispatched on interlibrary loan to 881 li- 

 braries in the United States and Canada, and to five 

 other libraries in live other foreign countries. 



Not only the collection of printed books is compre- 

 hended in the material subject to such loans, however. 

 Music, maps, and sometunes other material is lent and 

 even rare books whenever needed by the serious investi- 

 gator. An esi^ecially appropriate subject of such loans 

 is the collection of photographic transcripts of for- 

 eign archival material in the Division of Manuscripts 

 and the collection of rotograplis of early modem 

 Eurojjean manuscripts deposited in the Division of 

 Manuscripts by the Modern Language Association of 

 America for this very purpose. 



The system of interlibrary loan is a reversible one, 

 and the Library is able to secure for its constituency 

 the benefit of loans from other libraries of locally 

 inaccessible material. During 1937, 155 books were 

 thus borrowed. 



Loans to Governmental Libraries 



Closely coimected with the system of interlibrary 

 loans is the service of the Library to all of the Execu- 

 tive Departments and independent bureaus. Loans of 

 material are freely made for the purpose of aiding in 

 the prosecution of research for the Government. Such 

 loans are made, however, not to the individual investi- 

 gator, but to his departmental or bureau library, which 

 takes responsibility for the material. The extent of 

 this service may be conjectured from the annual sta- 

 tistics: during 1937, 45,597 volumes were lent to 227 

 agencies in response to 13,942 requests. 



Photoduplication Service 



Photoduplicates (photostats, microfilm copies) of re- 

 search material can be secured through the Photo- 

 duplication Service of the Library at moderate cost. 

 In view of the increasing demand for photoduplication 

 of research materials, the Rockefeller Foundation, in 

 February 1938, made a grant of funds to the Library 

 for the establishment of a microphotographic labora- 

 tory. The apparatus and methods made possible by 

 this grant will greatly facilitate the scholar in his 

 quest for otherwise unavailable materials. 



Research Pursued in the Library 



Enough has been said in the foregoing pages to in- 

 dicate the amount and the character of the researches 

 carried on in the Library as part of its operations. 

 The primary function of the institution is to assem,hle 

 materials for research. This function does not, upon 

 a superficial view, seem to imply itself a necessity for 



research. The part which research plays in the as- 

 sembly and utility of the collections would be appar- 

 ent only were it withdrawn ; it would then be apparent 

 that the perfection of organization, the ancillary pub- 

 lications, the informative service, and to a degree the 

 completeness of the collections themselves, rest upon 

 basic and continuing studies among them from various 

 points of view. The need is, not for less, but for more 

 of these. 



There may be considered here, however, under two 

 heads, the research carried on in the Library not con- 

 nected with its own organization and function. 



X. Studies pursued by investigators utilizing our 

 special facilities, including group mvestigations. 



It is, of course, impossible to estimate the amount 

 of productive research which the collections and serv- 

 ices of the Library enable. Certain statistics within 

 reach are not, however, without interest. Dui'ing the 

 year 1937 the use of study tables and study roomg 

 were accorded to 1,150 investigators pursuing their 

 studies over a greater or less extensive period of time. 

 They came from the United States and from 21 foreign 

 comitries, and represented 136 American and 14 for- 

 eign universities. Among them were 140 investigators 

 pursuing research for the Federal government, 171 

 members of faculties, 339 graduate students from other 

 than local institutions, 74 holders of fellowships or 

 grants in aid. They made use of a quarter of a million 

 books. About 50 works published during the year were 

 recognized as in whole or in part the result of research 

 performed here. 



An extremely productive form of investigation, and 

 one to whose efficiency the facilities of the Library 

 peculiarly lend themselves, is that of group research. 

 Such, for example, have been a number of the projects 

 sponsored by various agencies of the Federal govern- 

 ment during the past few years, in order as rapidly 

 and effectively as possible to explore uncharted fields 

 or to produce data to guide action in a changing 

 economy. Such, too, have been the investigations under 

 the direction of Dr. Earl G. Swem in the compilation 

 of the Virginia Historical Index, Miss Winifred Greg- 

 ory for the Union Lists of Serials, Documents and 

 Newspapers, and of the editors of the Dictionary of 

 American Biography. 



2. Investigation pursued imder the auspices of the 

 Library, in cooperation with individuals and learned 

 institutions. 



The Library cannot itself undertake or finance ex- 

 tensive projects of research beyond the limits set by 

 its own function and operation. It can, however, very 

 appropriately supervise such projects, provide the 

 materials, sometimes select the personnel, and utilize 

 the results. Such, for example, was its experience in 



