Rockefeller grants.

Oslo, so that his entrance upon the task at Washington did not take place until the middle of September.

His representation of the institution at the congress did not preclude his (appropriate) representation of the Library also; nor many other services in its behalf, including participation in the dedication, July 4, of the university library building at Louvain, and investigations, particularly in London and Paris, of the problems and opportunities involved in the Rockefeller project (A), and the operations in train under direction of Doctor Bemis. As Doctor Bemis had delayed his return (for the summer interlude) until the arrival in London of Doctor Jameson, the conferences on the spot-between the two proved very fortunate.

The operations themselves under this project, as also under Project B (development of our bibliographic apparatus), constituting, as they did, novel features of the year's activities, are to be appreciated only by the reviews. of them in the reports of Doctor Bemis and of Doctor Richardson, respectively, in charge of them. Summaries of the reports appear below (pp. 228, 238).

I remark here in comment only that, while project B was capable of full organization from the outset, project A required laborious and time-consuming preliminaries, both negotiation, and arrangement for, and installation of, the several plants, so that in London the work was not fully under way until January, while in Spain the necessary permits were withheld until well into the summer of 1928. The output, therefore, was of only about twothirds of a year, and, in proportion to it, the overhead was relatively excessive. Of the $50,000 allotted for the year (ending August 31), $7,731.91 was in fact undrawn or returned as unexpended. The four years to come (for each of which the allotment is $100,000) should show a great output, with little proportional increase of the overhead.

Early in September (1928) Doctor Bemis returned to Europe to resume direct contact with the operations, and to extend them to other localities. It will be noticed that at each of those thus far arranged for-in England, France, and Spain-they require a resident agent not merely for supervision of the work itself and due nota

tion and orderly shipment of the product, but, under general decisions, for the preliminary selection and determination of the material to be copied. (Even with the "Guides "-issued by the Carnegie Institution-available as a basis, this selection involves continuing expert discrimination if unnecessary duplication is to be avoided.) In London the agent is Miss Ruth A. Fisher, in Paris M. Abel Doysié, in Spain it is to be Dr. Roscoe R. Hill, whose long experience with Spanish archives, and the custodians of them, promises admirably for our purposes.

Archer M

As, in a sense, an appendant to last year's series of ENDOWMENTS: endowments, I note here an additional very significant Huntington. one from Mr. Archer M. Huntington, accepted by the Trust Fund Board on April 25, 1928. It was of the sum of $50,000 to provide an honorarium for a "consultant " in the field of Hispanic literature.

As explained by me in an address to the American Library Association—which is reprinted as an appendix (No. V) to this report-a "consultant," as distinguished from the holder of a "chair," will aid us generally in the development of the collections, and inquirers in the use of them, but be free from conventional administrative responsibility. He will receive, therefore, not a stipend such as the latter relation would warrant, but the recognition of a service special in character implied by an honorarium. It is my belief that many such a specialist, mature in scholarship, who has completed his period of teaching or research but still retains the vigor for some years of a responsive service, would be glad to render it in association with the National Library in its broadening relations. We could not ask that it be wholly gratuitous; but a recognition of it in the form of an honorarium of, say, $2,500 per annum, might suffice. It is for such an honorarium in the field of Hispanic literaturewhich Mr. Huntington's previous endowment was to enable us to cultivate-that his second gift provides.

The first recipient of it is to be Señor Don Juan Riaño y Gayangos, who since his retirement from the diplomatic service of Spain-concluding as her ambassador at Washington from 1914 to 1926-has continued to reside in this country, and whose willingness to serve American

Other gifts of

money (See also

scholarship in this relation revives interesting remembrance of the friendly scholarly relations which his distinguished father (Don Juan Riaño y Montero) and maternal grandfather (Don Pascual de Gayangos) maintained with Irving, Prescott, and Ticknor.

His first, much-needed service for us, after a study of our existing collections, will be in connection with a trip to certain countries of South America, already planned by him for other purposes not inconsistent with a representation of the Library in contacts with men of letters, publishers, and members of learned societies.

Ms. (Frederic) Coolidge's gift of the auditorium under "Music "). carried with it interest in the suitable embellishment of the residue of the northwest courtyard adjacent to it. This resulted in a contribution from her last fall of a sum ($3,288.50) sufficing to install there a pool and some appropriate benches, and revise the grass plots and walks, and also for some improvements of the orchestra pit within the hall.

Legislation

I come now to the topic which, as basic, would generally precede all others, the legislation of the session enacted in our interest. Apart from the regular appropriation bills, notably considerate, it included last year three measures of special significance. One was for the acquisition of additional land to the east of the present building, with a view to the erection thereon, within the early future, of an auxiliary structure for the accommodation of certain types of material and certain activities. The act carrying the authorization (approved May 21, 1928) is given in full in the Appendix, as also the report of the Committee on the Library recommending its passage. The area as finally determined is square 761 and slightly more than one-half of square 760. Its content is about equivalent to that covered by the present building (without the approaches).

Action under the authorization awaits still an appropriation of the sum ($600,000) authorized as compensation to the present proprietors.

The second measure (also quoted in the appendix) effected a change of an administrative nature. It abolished the joint office of administrative assistant and dis

bursing officer, leaving the respective duties to be assigned by the Librarian to such employees as he should

designate.

de K. Woods.

The occasion of the act was the anticipated retirement Mrs. Harriet from our service of Mrs. Harriet de Krafft Woods, who had successfully administered the joint office since its creation in 1922, and the change became operative at the date of that retirement-June 10, 1928. Mrs. Woods had brought to the task not merely unusual personal traits, of especial value in the exigency presented by the then existing conditions, but a long familiarity with the Library and its personnel, gained in a responsible position in the copyright office and as a member of numerous advisory committees upon matters affecting the general welfare of the employees. Coupling with these advantages an executive ability and clearness and integrity of judgment rare in either sex, she achieved an administration of the office remarkable for both efficiency and serenity.

Fortunately there had developed within her office a man appropriate to each of the two functions as subdivided, so that, with no break in the continuity of the work itself, I was able to designate as disbursing officer, beginning June 11, 1928, Mr. Wade H. Rabbitt, and as administrative assistant, but with the title of superintendent (of the building), Mr. William C. Bond.

The fees for registration of copyrights had for over Copyright fees. 40 years remained unchanged. During the past session, by an act approved May 23, 1928 (see separate report of register), Congress authorized a change in them, of which the main feature is an increase from $1 to $2 for the registration (including the certificate). The subscription price of the Copyright Bulletin (Catalogue of Copyright Entries) was also advanced (from $5 to $10 per annum).

The increases leave the fees still below those in some other countries, but they are a just recognition of the increased cost to the Government involved in handling the copyright business. They will enable the office to improve its efficiency and still be self-supporting.

A fourth (independent) measure of considerable as- Salary of Lisurance to the future of the Library was a bill recom

brarian.

14789-28-2

mended by the Committee on the Library, passed in both Houses by unanimous consent, and approved March 6, 1928, providing that "On and after July 1, 1928, the Librarian of Congress shall receive salary at the rate of $10,000 per annum."

In no previous recent year has an Appropriation Committee indicated so keen an interest in studying the needs of the Library or so considerate a spirit in the endeavor to meet them. The hearings upon the estimates were unusually detailed and elaborate, and they were preceded by inspections of the establishment in which every member of the subcommittee participated. The resulting bill (see Appendix Ib) not merely represents an advance in the totals available but includes certain provisions of signal importance, among them: (1) An item of $387,000 for the extension over the east and southeast stacks of the three upper levels of the recently constructed stack in the northeast courtyard, more than doubling thus our accommodation for research investigators, and greatly amplifying our spaces for the work of our own employees in the development of the bibliographic apparatus, and (2) the addition to our staff-at a cost of $30,000 per annum-of a dozen high-grade cataloguers.

The act carries the full authorized appropriation for the task imposed upon us of indexing the laws of the several States, enlarges appreciably the allowance for printing and binding (in both of which our work is badly in arrears), and continues an allowance (suitably reduced from last year) for a general advance (one stage) of salaries within the several grades. This latter allowance, being quite independent from the advance provided by the Welch Act (approved May 28, 1928) for Government salaries generally, has effected a remarkable, even if unequal, improvement in the compensation of our employees beginning with the present fiscal year.

Very significant also of the committee's appreciation of the cultural opportunities before us was the inclusion in the act of two positions in connection with our collection of Chinese literature: One (Grade IV, professional) to provide a permanent chief for the division, the other for