78 Report of the President 



heid in Nederlandsch Indie\ 1912, by J. E. Jasper en Mas 



Pirngadie, two volumes. Through the courtesy of Jonathan 



Dwight, Jr., who very generously placed at our disposal his 



personal file of Forest and Stream, we were able to complete the 



library set of this important publication. Cleveland H. Dodge 



has again donated the current monographs of the Carnegie 



Institution, and thereby the usefulness of our library has been 



materially increased. 



The library has continued to assist related institutions and 



scientists living at a distance by loaning such volumes as were 



_ ., requested in so far as each circumstance would 



Library . , , , 



_ . permit. A reciprocal courtesy is extended to the 



Extension \ . ,, r .*, 



American Museum or Natural History by a great 



many other institutions. The practice of inter-library loans is 

 beyond the experimental stage; it has been found by long 

 trial to be perfectly feasible; permanent loss is so rarely 

 experienced that it is a negligible quantity, and the utilitarian 

 value of the procedure far outweighs any embarrassment of 

 inconveniences or hypothetical loss. With the growth of 

 special libraries, collections of books on scientific and technical 

 subjects, obtained in most instances at an unusually large 

 expense, are certain to be so complete and unique that within 

 more or less restricted districts the general libraries, rather 

 than to compete, will find it more profitable to direct the 

 reader to the special library or resort to the system of inter- 

 library loans. 



The new steel stacks having a capacity of some forty 

 thousand volumes, whose installation was noted in our last 

 . report, have been occupied during the year. The 



^ first floor and a portion of the second tier are 



occupied by the publications of the various learned societies. 

 In the remaining sections of the second tier are installed the 

 books relating to anthropology and scientific travel. The 

 work of transfer entailing much care and precision was accom- 

 plished with but little confusion. 



The collection of maps and charts which has been in 

 storage for some time has been again made accessible and 

 arranged in the room formerly occupied by the anthropological 

 library. The equipment is both ample and competent. 



