Evening star., 1944-02-06

and the Library Is the court Of last
resort.
An example Of quick service occurred
during the Senate debate on the Church.
ill-Roosevelt remarks concerning the
role Of the smaller nations. At 1880
am. Senator made q telling point
through a quotation. It was strong
enough, If exactly true, to change the
course OF action.
Getting the Right Word.
Another Senator scribbled few words
on paper and handed it to page boy.
The page hurried outside. 1t was II
am. The paper read, II want to use
this exact quotation in rebuttal at 1880"
A minute before 80 the boy returned.
handing the Senator a slip of paper.
The Senator jumped to his feet, waving
the white sheet in his hand. He then
proceeded to read the exact quotation.
The other Senator had misquoted the
paragraph from memory, inadvertently
altering the entire meaning The cor
rect statement changed the current Of
debate, and resulted In favorable vote
for the resolution.
Other types of quick service for Con-
gress are numerous. One day Senator,
while talking on the floor, sent German
letter to the Library to be translated in
time for him to use in his speech. The
task was completed before he needed it.
Citizens believe the Library of Con-
gress can answer all questions, and write
in with the bland assurance that no
request is beyond reply. AS an example,
curious citizen desired complete in
formation on Senate Resolution I'll,
which dealt with the participation Of all
classes OF Americans in the war pro-
gram. The answer required 81 typed
pages.
Postwar Information.
Material for postwar settlements, par
ticularly that applying to governments
IN exile, is being constantly stored by
the Library. 1t recently displayed the
official gazettes of the exiled govern
ments, indicating at the same time the
problems these governments had to
overcome. An example of the methods
used may be shown by the way the
Dutch government in exile worked.
Following invasion, the Netherlands
government had to shift from Holland
to England. In order to be legal the
announcement, however, had to be made
on Dutch territory. This was done by
publishing it in Surinam, Dutch Guiana.
There are few of these proclamations
left in the world; the Library has one
Of the few.
Acquiring material in wartime Is q
difficult and often complicated task.
Sources and contacts Of long standing
are broken; many available ones can
not be made public because hostile gov
ernments may bring reprisals. And diff
flculties of transportation are involved:
South American shipments which used
to take approximately two weeks in
peacetime now frequently require three
to six months.
South American Tour.
An effort to remedy this is now being
made. One of the Library's representa-
tives left last April on tour, still in
completed, to visit Ecuador, Peru, Bo-
livia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina and
Brazil. She is entering places Americans
rarely 60 in order to make contacts and
get publications. In Ecuador she en-
couraged local editor to make a
monthly list of publications, assuring
him Of financial returns from American
libraries 1t has already yielded results,
for the editor has published additional
lists with the cooperation of other
editors.
All this has been done in the face of
personnel difficulties. Since 1910 the
Library Of Congress has lost 344 en-
ployes to the armed services. Turn.
over is rapid. Approximately 1000 sep
arations in one year from a staff Of
1,450. requiring as many requirements,
makes training and retraining a pro-
digious task.
Clerical help is the gravest problem
Continued on Page C-50