Evening star., 1947-04-21
Librarian Of Consress

out the war had been concentrated on
services Tor Congress and other branches
OF the Government. For four wears
academic endeavor had been generally
suspended, but now there was an in
tensldcation Of scholarship. Veterans
began taking advantage OF their edu-
cational opportunities and scholars re-
turned to the Investigations which nor
mally occupied their talents. The added
leisure resulting from the general adop-
ton OF the 40-hour week meant a cor
responding increase in the use of the
hbrarys collections, not only in the
two great buildings, but by loan, by
photoduplication and by written requests
Tor reference service. Furthermore, the
wartime discovery Of the library's full
potentialities for service by Congress
and other branches OF the Government
led to still further assignments.
In the fiscal year ended June 80, 1916,
circulation statistics mounted upwards
IN an almost vertical line, and q food
OF correspondence threatened the gen
eral inundation OF the institution, An
announcement Of a single activity-the
hbrarys collections Of American folk
songs-pubEshed in q general magazine
OF Wide circulation, resulted in more
than 10000 requests for catalogues in a
lew days. Readers increased by Sol 1894
(75 per cent?, reaching the total of
69S, TAO Tor the year. OF these 10000
received personal assistance from the
reference staff and the general and
special reading rooms. The circulation
OF material In the buildings grew from
j 5S6.854 in 1915 to 2,137,788 in 1916. The
total number of pieces of new material
Wnlch the library received reached
4,zSl ,346-an increase of over 1850 600
pieces over the previous record peak
Registrations of copyright claims
reached total of 202, JAG, the greatest
number In the history of the Copyright
once. Over million more copies of
printed catalog cards were sold despite
price increase, than had been sold the
previous year. The total number of
visitors to both buildings was 777,125 as
compared with ,029 in fiscal year
l945. The Photoduplication Service re-
ceived 1892 requests for photodupli-
Gates and estimates, whereas the year
before the total had been 1891.
Progress According to Plan Provided.
The hbrary's services to Congress
also broke all records. This, In con-
Junction with demands from the people
at large, called for a re-exafaination of
the lbrarys purposes and for careful
planning for the future We began 4
systematic analysis of the existing
status of the library and soon discov-
cred that the library was anything but
well-rounded institution. Gradually,
a design for expansion and correlation
developed. Many members OF the staff
were invited to contribute. Executives
and technicians of other ofices of Gov
ernment were asked for advice and crit
lciSm. The result was contained in 4
document of 141 pages submitted to
Congress, outlining the nbrarys pres
ent status and indicating the directions
In which further progress is to be at
tempted
According to the most careful esti-
mate, the contents of the library on
June 80, 1916, included 8,193, 200 volumes
and pamphlets (including 1859 VOL
tunes OF bound newspapers, 4,206, ,738
unbound serial parts other than news
papers, sos, 1902 unbound issues of news
papers, 8,l21 ,913 pieces of manuscript.
LII ,2o2 maps and views. 59,001 reels
OF microfilm, 1855 reels of motion pic
lures, l,71s,610 volumes and pieces OF
music, 260,5ss photographic recordings.
o50.834 Photographic negatives, prints
and slides, 576,S46 fine" prints, includ-
ing engravings, etchings. etc, and 287,-
237 broadsides, posters and niscella-
neouS forms Of presentation