FINANCE The following table exhibits the appropriations and expenditures of the Library proper and of the copyright office for the fiscal year, and the appropriations for the preceding fiscal year and the year now current. Included also are the appropriations for the equipment and care of the building and grounds. 1 Appropriations include amounts withdrawn for retirement fund: For 1926, $19,707; for 1927, $28,764.75; for 1928, amount not yet determined. Also expenditures, 1927, include retirement deductions. No deduction for retirement fund. Appropriation includes credits on account of sales of card indexes to governmental institutions: For 1926, $2,081.60 credited and $57.50 yet to be credited; for 1927, $1,604.29 credited and $76.21 yet to be credited. Expenditures, 1927 ($103,951.96), offset by subscriptions covered into the Treasury ($178,037.98). • Expenditures, 1927 ($165,552.16), offset by fees covered into the Treasury ($184,727.60). Any unexpended balance for purchase of books will be available for the succeeding year. Appropriations do not include $2,500 to be expended by the marshal of the Supreme Court for new books of reference for that body. Expenditures, 1927, include outstanding indebtedness. Appropriation includes credits on account of sales of photo duplications to governmental institutions: For 1926, $14.40; for 1927, $17.05. Expenditures, 1927, include outstanding indebtedness. 'Appropriation includes credits on account of sales of card indexes to governmental institutions: For 1926, $892.11 credited and $24.64 yet to be credited; for 1927, $687.38 credited and $32.66 yet to be credited. Expenditures, 1927, include outstanding indebtedness. Appropriation includes amounts withdrawn for retirement fund: For 1926, $2,609.95; for 1927, $3,737.09; for 1928, amount not yet determined. Also expenditures, 1927, includes retirement deductions. • Appropriations include balance from preceding year in addition to appropriation of $800. The appropriations for 1926-27 varied from those in the preceding year in the following particulars: Salaries-Library proper.-Appropriation increased from $484,780 to $518,585. Copyright office.-Appropriation increased from $159,800 to $165,640. Legislative reference service.-Appropriation increased from $58,660 to $61,530. Card indexes.-Appropriation increased from $95,414 to $102,364, including appropriation for employees engaged on piecework and work by the day or hour, increased from $15,000 to $16,000. Increase of the Library.—Item made to read: "For purchase of books, miscellaneous periodicals and newspapers, and all other material, for the increase of the Library, including payment in advance for subscription books, and society publications, and for freight, commissions, and traveling expenses, and all other expenses incidental to the acquisition of books, miscellaneous periodicals and newspapers, and all other material for the increase of the Library by purchase, gift, bequest, or exchange, to continue available during the fiscal year 1928, $95,000." * * includ Printing and binding.-Item made to read: "* ing the copyright office and the binding, rebinding, and repairing of library books, and for the Library Building, $260,000. "For the publication of the Catalogue of Title Entries of the Copyright Office, $45,000." Library Building.-Appropriation for salaries increased from $104,398 to $107,702. The following additional provision included: "For any expense of the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board, including cost of its seal, not properly chargeable to the income of any trust fund held by the board, $500, to be immediately available." The appropriations for 1927-28 varied from those in the preceding year in the following particulars: Salaries--Library proper.—Appropriation increased from $518,585 to $564,805. COPYRIGHT: Copyright office.--Appropriation increased from $165,640 to $175,100. Legislative reference service.--Appropriation increased from $61,530 to $63,650. Card indexes.-Appropriation increased from $102,364 to $118.010, including appropriation for employees engaged on piecework and work by the day or hour, increased from $16,000 to $26,000, and the item made to read: in all, $118,010, of which $3,000 shall be immediately available." 66 * Increase of the Library.-Appropriation increased from $98,000 to $108,000. Library Building.—Appropriation for salaries increased from $107,702 to $120,402, and appropriation for extra services for the opening of the Library Building on Sundays and on legal holidays increased from $3,550 to $3,740. The following item made to read: "For any expense of the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board not properly chargeable to the income of any trust fund held by the board, $500." COPYRIGHT OFFICE The report of the register of copyrights appears in full as Appendix II. A section of it important in its implications recites the legislation proposed at the last session for revision or amendment of the copyright law. The principal statistics of the business done during the year are as follows: Fees received and applied Registrations ($1), including certificates___ Fiscal year 1926-27 Registrations (50 cents), photographs, no certificates_ Registrations (50 cents), renewals_-. For copies of record__ $173, 305.00 3, 004. 50 2, 343.00 857.50 4, 602. 00 222.50 110. 10 For assignments and copies of same.. For notices of user--- For indexing transfers of proprietorship--- 283.00 The fees from copyrights are covered into the Treasury and not applied directly to the maintenance of the copyright office. They form a regular revenue of the Government, however, and a net revenue over the direct expenses of the office, as appears from the comparison following: RECEIPTS Fees covered in during the fiscal year 1926-27 as above_-__ EXPENSES Salaries, including retirement fund, as stated Stationery and sundries_. Net cash earnings_ $165, 552. 16 166, 609.88 18, 117. 72 The above statement includes all disbursements except the cost of furniture, of printing, and of binding, but only cash receipts. In addition to cash fees, the copyright business brings each year to the Government, in articles deposited, property to the value of many thousands of dollars. During the past fiscal year 299,963 such articles were received. The value of those drawn up into the collections of the Library far exceeded the amount of net cash earnings. On the 6th day of July, 1927, when the report of the copyright office was submitted, the remittances received up to the third mail of the day had been recorded. The account books of the bookkeeping division were balanced for June 30, the financial statements were prepared for the Treasury Department, and all earned fees to June 30, inclusive, had been paid into the Treasury. For the entries covered by the above-applied fees, 1,671 certificates remained to be written, 3,241 articles to be indexed and catalogued, and 4,653 records to be completed. So that while the fiscal operations of the Copyright Office, as indicated above, are kept as nearly up to date as can ever be expected, there are now serious arrearages in the work which the office performs. The business to be done is constantly increasing. In the fiscal year 1917-18 the copyright registrations numbered 106,728; the registrations made in the fiscal year 1926-27 numbered 184,000 68025-27- -3 Current copyright business. Elimination of copyright deposits. that is an increase in the business and work of the Copyright Office of more than 71 per cent. For the fiscal year 1917-18 Congress appropriated for 91 clerks and in the fiscal year 1926-27 the working clerical force numbered 104 that was less than 15 per cent increase in the clerical force required to take care of an increase in the business of more than 71 per cent. As a result there has been a continuing accumulation of arrearage work in writing copyright certificates, recording entries, and cataloguing, indexing, and filing the articles deposited. These increasing arrearages will require immediate provision for additional assistants, which should be met by an item in the first emergency bill to be taken up by the Seventieth Congress. The total unfinished business for the full 30 years from July 1, 1897, to June 30, 1927, amounts to but $1,959.94 against a total completed business for the same period of $3,220,634.75. During the past 30 years the business done by the office was as follows: Total number of entries__ Total number of articles deposited___ Total amount of fees received and applied__. Net receipts above expenses for service_ 3, 622, 308 6, 303, 639 $3, 220, 634. 75 $2,721, 995. 40 $498, 639. 35 During the 57 years since the copyright work became a business of the Library of Congress the total number of entries has been 4,503,164. Under authority of sections 59 and 60 of the copyright act of 1909, 25,430 volumes have been transferred to the Library from the deposits in the copyright office during the fiscal year; 7,533 books have been deposited in governmental libraries in the District of Columbia, and 98,353 articles have been returned to copyright claimants. CATALOGUE OF COPYRIGHT ENTRIES The Catalogue of Copyright Entries has always been printed and published to make up calendar-year volumes for the different classes of works catalogued. For the calendar year 1926 all parts of the catalogue have been |