AliKll l"i;n ILVU Ari'K<M'KIATI(».\ lill.I^ I!rj4. 339 



To inal«* tlu> r<>sultM of pnst iiivrsti^iitions hvhiIuMi* il is nprcAAary 

 not only to have at hand l>ooks in which fX|M'riiiicnlM htivf tH*on 

 nM-or<li'«i. Ixtt ill iiilditioii th<> iiialrrial in lhl'^<^ honks tniHl hr made 

 avaihihh' (liidu^^h cat aloj^in-, and iimU-xcs. Kcw in\ c%t ijjatorn hii\c the 

 time to keep records of tlic hteratnre ccmcerrunj; their own HixM-ialtiit*, 

 njiich h'ss <m aUied siihjects which they nuist often ron.Hith'r in con- 

 nection with their experiments. They are coming: ninre nn«l int»re to 

 (h'pciid upon lihraiie> not only f(»r supplying them with hnoks hul 

 also for otfjanizintj these coUections and for sysU'niuti/.in^ and put- 

 tin;; in permanent form in the shape of <'atal»»<;nes, hihlii>^raphioH, 

 etc., informntion conci'rnin^ puhhshed research, so that it mn- '"■ 

 avaihil)h' when needed in conn«Mtion \Mth special invc'st i<_'at ion- 



HIHUOOKAI-HICAL WORK. 



Mr. Andkhson. Let nie. ask y«)U then-. Miss Barnetl, «h» ytni do any 

 bihh«»^raphical work ( 



Miss n.M{.\KTT. Yes; we (h>. As an ilhislration of the kuid of 

 hihhot;raphicaI servi<'e that llie catahtgues and indexes enahh* the 

 lihrary of the »U'partment to ^i\o may he cited tlie r6suni<^ of the 

 resuhs of price lixin^ through 4(i c«'nturies. i)re|)are<l by the librarian 

 of the liureau «)f A^ri( ullural Kcon(»mics, wnicli was especially useful 

 in connection with the National Aj^ricultural Conference last year. 

 That is just one of a number of examples we could <;ive. 



Mr. Am)FJ{S()n. You i;»'t re(|uests from people in the department 

 to work out all material in the library, specifying; mateiial upon 

 sjjecial ((uestions, or relating to particular investigations^ 



Miss Bah.nett. Yes; that is what wc try to do. We maintain a 

 cataloiiue of more than 1 ,()()(),()()() cards, which of course, is the liasis 

 for all of our biblioi^rapiiical work. 



Mr. A.\I)f:ks().\. 1 suppose that includes, of course, subject indexes 

 and author indexes ( 



Miss B.VRNETT. Yes; both subject and auliior intU'xes. 



'Hie library is an essential and important part of the e(|uipmenl of 

 tiie department and as such can not be impaired without serious loss 

 to tlie work of tiie de})artnu'nt . It must keep pace witii the growth 

 of the depaitment and keep in close touch witli the growth of agri- 

 cultural Work all over the world if the- investigations of the depart- 

 ment and of the afhliated State institutions are to be carried on to 

 the best advantage. 



COST OF PERIODICALS. 



I nfortunatelv the support given the library in the past few years 

 lias been most ina(le(|uate both for salaries and for books. In order 

 to make this clear it is (mly necessary to review briefly the library's 

 appropriations for the past seven yeai"s, from HH7 to date, a period 

 in which the work of the department has greatly expanded. In 1918 

 the (h'partment appropriation was S'i.'j.tJ'J^.j l.'i. For l"»"_':i it is 

 .'?;i(l,774.173, an increase of 'M) per cent. In 1917 the total appro- 

 priation for salaries and general expenses of the library was Sp.»..')20. 

 For the year 1923 it is $57,600, an increase of only $1,140 for salaries 

 and $7,000 for general expenses. 



The total increase in tlie library appropriation timing the seven 

 years amounts, therefore, to only $8,140, or approximately 17 |>er 



