REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. CVII 



the Department Library has been completed and will be issued at an 

 early date. Two reference lists, one containing references to publica- 

 tions on irrigation and land drainage and the other on tobacco, have 

 been prepared, but a lack of funds for printing delays their publica- 

 tion as Library bulletins. It is to be regretted that the printing appro- 

 priation has not been sufficient also to provide for an increased number 

 of issues of the card index to the Department publications. This 

 index has increased the usefulness of these documents many fold. 



DEMANDS UPON THE LIBRARY. 



The constantly broadening fields of investigation being entered upon 

 by the Department increase greatly the demands upon the Library. 

 These investigations depend largely upon the extent of the Library's 

 resources and their availability. To further these conditions ade- 

 quate appropriations are needed, both for books and for their care and 

 preservation. The amount of reference work done in the Library 

 has increased so much during the past year that an assistant for this 

 special work is much needed. 



ASSISTANCE TO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES AND EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



In not a few cases college and station workers have drawn upon the 

 resources of the Library to assist in some special work. Whenever it 

 can be done without interference with the work of the Department, 

 the usefulness of this large collection of books and pamphlets, many 

 of which are not to be found elsewhere in this country, should be thus 

 extended. This Library may justly claim to be the headquarters for 

 agricultural literature, and as such should be able and ready to meet 

 the demands from without as well as from within the Department. 

 The requests which come from colleges and station libraries for sug- 

 gestions as to the best arrangement of their material and as to other 

 details of administration should be met with a ready response. 



NEED OF MORE SUITABLE ACCOMMODATIONS. 



The present Library room is entirely inadequate for the accommoda- 

 tion of readers and for the work of the Library staff. Much space is 

 occupied for other than library purposes on account of the generally 

 crowded condition of the Department offices. In addition to the 

 necessity for more commodious accommodations for the present col- 

 lection of over 70,000 books and pamphlets, there is the still greater 

 need of a safer building than the one in which the Library now is. The 

 destruction of any considerable part of this valuable collection of 

 books would be an inestimable loss to the Department in particular 

 and to scientists at large. 



