Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1921-03-03

modating those books For under the system OF
interlibrary loan they are made available to IN
vestigators throughout the United States, In this
respect Il differs from national libraries abroad,
which are purely reference libraries, which must
be consulted on the spot.
Its printed cards Represent service which Is
also unique, the one successful attempt on gen.
eral scale 10 centralize for all the expense
of ~ cataloguing books and (2) of manfoding
the catalogue entries.
In addition II Is ~ a legislative library for
congress; (2) the main reference library for the
executive departments and bureaus; (3) the law
library of the Supreme court; (4) the copyright
Office of the United States; and (5) the national
library to give special service for the entire
country.
Its reference readers number many as those
in the British Museum, the Bibliotheque Ma
tionale; but the facilities accorded them, for ex-
ample. of direct access to the shelves, surpass
those of any other considerable reference library
whatever. Unlike the BibliotheQue Rationale and
British Museum. which close at shutdown, the Ma
tiona Library is open till ten o'clock every
ming, and on Sundays from two until ten.
Its building is in cubic about 10OO0.0OO
cubic feet, equal to that of the Capitol In floor
1t greatly exceeds 1t. Its shelving capacity
Is sufficient to accommodate 3,500.000 volumes and
can be increased to double that number.
The total appropriation for the library, the
copyright Office. and the care of the building and
grounds is about $4,000 per annum. Against
this are receipts copyright fee, and proceeds of
sales of the printed cards. totang about $780,
000 that the net outlay for the library is
about $4,000 per annum. In addition, there is,
however, the expense for printing and binding,
for which the annual allotment has been about
100000 The amount annually spent for books
and other material for collections is about $685.
0OO This barely suffces for the ordinary nate
rial.
The Library Is pre-eminent In these respects
Public (oficial) documents of all countries
sulting from the international exchanges conduct
ed by the Library itself And In special fields of
literature, for example: Americana, Including the
results of copyright; political science; law; and
certain (unexpected) groups for example: Rus
STA, the Yudn collection. $4,000 volumes. perhaps
the most thorough outside of Russia; China,
of the largest and In certain respects certainly
the richest. outside of China.
Its collection of music is probably the largest
In the world. Developed for the needs Of the
serious inyestigator-composer critic. historian.
conductor-it is rendering signal service to such
investigators In America. For instance, In no
other institution in the world could the history
of modern opera be studied or written as here
Its collection Of prints developed Its recent
side by copyright, or Its more classical side by
gift is constantly drawn upon for illustration. and
the exhibits from 1t Interest inform and influence
thousands of visitors annually
In conclusion Mr.. Fess said: at may not be
known 10 all members of the house that here In
Washington, connected with the various research
divisions of the government 10 located the greatest
group of great scholars that can be found In any
center in all the world. want to emphasize that
statement 1t Is absolutely true. These scholars
are associated with the various governmental de-
partments each of which has special library facil-
ity for its use. The step necessary to make the
largest use of the capital as the worlds greatest
center for scholarship is national university as
a research institution to utilize the vast library
sources and the laboratory facilities connected
with the various departments of the government,
rich beyond those of any other country on the
globe This would at once give this capital the
first rank of an capitals as the worlds greatest
intellectual center-a mecca to which the scholars
of the future will come to add to the sum total
of knowledge. This consummation is easily with
In our reach"