REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 25 



is of very great convenience to the curators, who, upon the arrival of 

 bulky accessions, may not be prepared to receive them immediately 

 into their laboratories. 



Library. 



Mr. John Murdoch* has furnished the following statement concern- 

 ing the operations of the library. 



The work of the library has been carried on according to essentially 

 the same methods as during the preceding years. 



The total number of publications (exclusive of regular periodicals) 

 added to the library during the year was 1,511 — 391 volumes of more 

 than 100 pages, and 1,120 pamphlets. Of these, 237 volumes and 711 

 pamphlets were retained for the use of the Museum from the accessions 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. The remainder were obtained as usual 

 by gift, and less frequently by purchase. As in previous years, the 

 chief donor to the library was Prof. S. F. Baird, to whom the library is 

 indebted for 17 volumes and 109 pamphlets. Next in importance as 

 contributors are Mr. Eobert Kidgway, 49 pamphlets ; Mr. W. H. Dall, 

 46 pamphlets ; the Smithsonian Institution, 14 volumes, 18 pamphlets; 

 Prof. J. O. Westwood, of Oxford, England, 27 pamphlets (a complete set 

 of his shorter archaeological writings) ; and the United States Fish 

 Commission, 3 volumes and 19 pamphlets. 



During the year 4,350 books were borrowed from the library, and 

 4,396 returned. 



The card catalogue by authors has been continued, and 1,647 titles 

 have been added to it during the year. A catalogue by subjects is a 

 great desideratum, but it is impossible to begin it with the force now at 

 command. 



The condition of the sectional libraries remains practically unchanged 

 since the last report. 



The covering of pamphlets with the binders, described in the last 

 report, has been continued, and 2,111 have been covered during the 

 year. On June 24 we received a supply of Eandolph pamphlet-boxes 

 of the standard quarto and octavo sizes. It is intended to keep the 

 covered pamphlets in these, grouping together, for instance, all the 

 pamphlets by the same author in one of these boxes, which then forms 

 practically a book, and can be put in its proper place on the shelf. 



On the establishment of the Smithsonian reading-room, soon after 

 April 1, the current volumes of nearly all the important periodicals 

 not belonging to the sectional libraries, were transferred to it. This 

 affords a long desired opportunity for the display of the recent numbers 

 of these publications, and as the periodicals in the reading-room are 

 not allowed to circulate until the volume is complete, all readers have 

 an opportunity of consulting them. 



"No changes were made in the force employed in the library until 

 April 1. At this date, in consequence of the reorganization of the 

 * Appointed Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution April 1, 1887, 



