lan curated the exhibition Walter Crane: Design for Children 

 which featured nineteen lavishly illustrated books from the 

 collection. The Libraries' exhibitions are funded with private 

 donations and grants. 



After 34 years of providing research support through the 

 Translations Publishing Program, the Libraries closed down 

 the program this year when the Special Foreign Currency op- 

 erating funds which supported it were exhausted. Since the 

 program's inception in i960, the Libraries published, regis- 

 tered with the National Technical Information Service, and 

 distributed gram copies of 274 scientific books and articles 

 translated into English from foreign languages. The 

 Smithsonian's Atherton Seidell Endowment Fund and the Na- 

 tional Science Foundation joined to support publication of the 

 final volume of the Libraries' Translations Program. 



Six professional staff joined the staff this year. Amy Begg, 

 Reference Librarian, National Museum of American History 

 Branch Library, earned an MA. in History and a M.S.L.S. 

 from Catholic University. Thomas Bickley, Librarian of the 

 Anacostia Museum Branch Library, earned his M.S.L.S. from 

 The Catholic University of America, a M.A. in Music from 

 The American University, and a Master of Divinity from the 

 Wesley Theological Seminary. Claire Dekle, book conservator 

 in the Book Conservation Laboratory, earned her M.L.S. from 

 Columbia University, and completed an internship with the 

 Royal Academy of Arts in London. Margaret Dittemore, ap- 

 pointed Librarian of the Anthropology Branch Library, was 

 awarded a Ph.D from the University of Chicago and an M.L.S. 

 at University of California/Berkeley. Gwendolen R. Leighry, 

 Development Officer, who previously worked at the 

 Institution's Office of Development, earned an M.A. in Public 

 Administration at George Washington University. Valerie 

 Wheat, Librarian of the Museum Reference Center, was 

 awarded an M.A. in Spanish at Howard University, and her 

 M.L.S. from University of Missouri-Columbia. 



The first Libraries' Postgraduate Resident, Sally Siew-Siew 

 Chuah, a native of Malaysia who earned her master's degree in 

 library science at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 

 completed a one-year residency in March. The pilot program 

 was funded by the James Smithson Society. Six interns 

 worked on various projects in the Libraries, including library 

 students from Louisiana State University and Catholic Univer- 

 sity. The Libraries is the Institution's largest employer of Stay- 

 in-School (SIS; employees, a Federal student employment 

 program designed for full-time high school and college stu- 

 dents who wish to gain work experience; this year eleven stu- 

 dents worked in a number of branch libraries and Libraries' 

 offices. 



Nancy E. Gwinn, Assistant Directot, Collections Manage- 

 ment, delivered a paper at the Society for the History of Natu- 

 ral History meeting in London. Martin R. Kalfatovic, 

 Information Access Coordinator, presented a paper at the Pop- 

 ular Culture/American Culture Associations in Chicago. Mar- 

 garet Dittemore, Librarian, Anthropology Branch Library, 

 was named Chairman of the Anthropology and Sociology Sec- 



tion of the Association of College and Research Libraries of 

 the American Library Association (ALA) in July. Mary Au- 

 gusta Thomas, Assistant Director, Planning and Administra- 

 tion, serves on the ALA's Library Administration and 

 Management Activities Publications Committee. 



Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 



Ira Rubinoff, Director 



The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), based in 

 the Republic of Panama, is dedicated to increasing our under- 

 standing of tropical nature and peoples and to communicat- 

 ing this knowledge internationally. To carry out its mission, 

 STRI operates tropical forest and marine field stations, well- 

 equipped laboratories, and a ma|or tropical sciences library. 

 These facilities support the work of more than 30 staff scien- 

 tists and hundreds of visiting researchers and students each 

 year that in FY 94 represented more than thirty nations. 



A major research acquisition this year was the R.V. Urracd. 

 a 32-meter general research vessel, which replaced the 

 R.V. Benjamin. The vessel is equipped with laboratory, dark- 

 rooms, scuba facilities, and the latest communication and nav- 

 igation equipment. The increased size, capabilities, and range 

 of the U rraca' ■wiW allow STRI scientists not only to continue 

 their work on both sides of the Isthmus of Panama but to ex- 

 pand their studies throughout the Caribbean and Eastern Pa- 

 cific Ocean. 



During FY 94 construction progressed on the new wing of 

 the Tropical Sciences Library scheduled for completion in 

 1995. The four story annex financed from the Earl S. Tupper 

 Fund will house the entire 62,000 volumes comprising the 

 STRI collection and allow for future expansion. Work also 

 continued on the new laboratory building on Barro Colorado 

 Island to be completed in early 1995. In December, renovation 

 began on the Surfside Building began, formerly housing the 

 STRI Oil Spill Project. The renovated space will provide labo- 

 ratories and offices for scientists working at the Naos Marine 

 Laboratories and will also permit the expansion of the molecu- 

 lar evolution program. STRI also awarded a contract for the 

 renovation of the Ancon Building, STRI s former head- 

 quarters, that will house the Center fot Tropical Paleoecology 

 and Archaeology. 



The five-year STRI Oil Spill Project ended and partici- 

 pants produced a final report on the consequences of the 

 1986 oil spill on coral reefs, mangroves and other habitats 

 in Bahia Las Minas, near STRIs Galeta Marine Laboratory. 

 The report, edited by STRI scientists Btian Keller and Jer- 

 emy B.C. Jackson, is the most comptehensive of its kind, 

 presenting important implications for evaluating the conse- 

 quences of matine contamination and the effectiveness of 

 clean-up efforts. 



53 



