EEPOET OF THE SECEETAEY. 97 



CATALOGUE OF SMITHSONIAN PUBLICATIONS. 



A contract was entered into during the year for the preparation 

 of a complete catalogue of the publications of the Institution and its 

 branches in book form. It is expected that the manuscript will be 

 finished within a few months and that means will be found to print 

 and issue the catalogue without serious delay. 



LIBRARIES OF THE GOVERNMENT BRANCHES. 



United States National Museum. — In accordance with the plans ap- 

 proved last year, four rooms at the northeast corner of the new 

 building of the National Museum on the ground floor (Nos. 24,. 26, 

 27, and 28) were fitted with steel bookstacks and other library appli- 

 ances of the latest design for the reception of the portion of the 

 Museum library needed in connection with the study and classifica- 

 tion of the natural history and other collections in that building. 

 The three rooms on the north side of the corridor not being separated 

 by partitions, the entire space of 107 feet by 21 feet was divided into 

 three portions of unequal dimensions, the western portion being as- 

 signed for a general reading room, and also for the card catalogues, 

 reference books, charging desk, etc. The middle portion, of smaller 

 dimensions, for quiet reading ; and the larger eastern portion for the 

 general stacks. The stacks are in two tiers separated by a glass floor. 

 In. the middle room the arrangement is similar, except that a large 

 table occupies the central floor space. A gallery which extends 

 around three sides of the general reading room also supports stacks, 

 and on the ground floor additional shelving occupies the east wall of 

 this room. Open shelves for current numbers of periodicals occupy 

 the space under the windows. Two steel manuscript cases have been 

 placed in the middle room, and a small lift for raising books to the 

 upper or mezzanine floor, and suitable staircases have also been pro- 

 vided. A special feature of the stack room is that every second stack 

 is but 3J feet high instead of 7 feet. This arrangement reduces the 

 total shelf capacity a little, but provides a place on which to lay 

 books when they are being rearranged or used by readers. As the 

 members of the staff and other students are permitted to consult books 

 in the stack room, the provision is a necessary one. 



The room on the south side of the corridor (No. 27) was arranged 

 as an office for the assistant librarian and the cataloguers. Bookstacks 

 extend around the walls of the room on three sides, and there are 

 two additional stacks, dividing the room practically into three. 



The steel stacks were completed about October 15, 1912, and the 

 moving of books from the old quarters was begun immediately. The 

 task of placing the books on the new shelves occupied about a month, 



