Mr. MUMFORD. Searching orders, drawing cards, and billing. flow Mr. Bow. Where would you use those 20 GS-3's? Mr. ROGERS. Those would be used to reduce inventory. Mr. MUMFORD. And to supply service on cards that have been out of print that we could not supply otherwise. Mr. Bow. How many people do you have doing that now? Mr. MUMFORD. Because we have had to concentrate upon filling orders by the conventional method where stocks were available. Mr. COFFIN. When you say we are within 2 or 3 days of currency, you are speaking, Mr. Rogers, of the so-called regular orders and not about the special orders we get by subject; nor have you taken into account the 250,000 "outs" which we must have reprinted or multilithed or produced through the xerographic process to fill the orders. In this crash program we took care of the orders which were coming in every day and took care of the backlog of orders insofar as we could fill them from existing stocks. Now we have a cleanup task for the special orders, for the "outs," for the proof sheets, and for various other activities of the Card Division which produces publications and cards for subscribing libraries. Mr. Bow. Getting back to the 20, how are you going to use them? Mr. ROGERS. The 20? Mr. Bow. The 20 GS-3's filling the card orders. What will they acutally do? Mr. MUMFORD. They will work on these old series that are either out of print already, where they cannot supply the cards, or directed toward reducing stock for old series for which there are not as frequent orders. Mr. Bow. Will they be operating these machines? Mr. Bow. Do you have enough of these machines for 20 people to be working on? Mr. MUMFORD. Yes, sir: for the present. Mr. Bow. How many of these machines do you have? Mr. Gooch. At the present time, approximately five machines actually capable of being worked but we have no staff to man them. Mr. Bow. You have five machines and you say you have the staff to operate them or you do not have the staff? Mr. Gooch. We do not have the staff. Mr. Bow. You do not have the staff to operate them. You have machines there not being operated? Mr. Gooch. The Photoduplication Service has modified the machines, up to five machines, but the Card Division does not have the people to handle them on the photographic end. Actually, the 20 positions would include those who would man the cameras to photograph the cards from the record catalog. Mr. Bow. How many would that take? Mr. Bow. In other words, you are going to buy more equipment too? Mr. Bow. Where is that in this budget? Mr. COFFIN. That is not in this budget. The Photoduplication Service would provide that. Mr. MUMFORD. That operates on a revolving fund rather than on appropriated funds. Mr. Gooch. It requires a certain number of positions, which Mr. Coffin can explain, of people who fill the orders by drawing cards from the record catalog on requisition to supply to the camermen. the ratio is 3 or 4 to 1. I think Mr. COFFIN. It would be two for handling the orders and supplying cards and filling the orders after the cards come back from the photoduplication service, two to one cameraman. We would expect, because of the changes of procedures, to be able to salvage 10 from our present staff, and with the 20 which we are requesting, to operate 10 cameras and fill the orders that we would be receiving for this type of card. (The following additional information was subsequently supplied:) When the Library's budget request for fiscal year 1962 was prepared last October, it was anticipated that the Card Division would require 27 workload positions beginning July 1, 1961. After the request was submitted, it became obvious from the great increase in card orders that the 27 were needed at once. These 27 positions were included, therefore, in the Library's supplemental request for fiscal year 1961 and were granted for a portion of the year in the third supplemental appropriation for 1961, Public Law 87-14. They are included in the base of this appropriation and the Library is asking for an increase of $43,714 to provide for these 27 positions for the full year. The Library of Congress began printing cards in 1898. With the growth of the catalog card stock to approximately 150 million cards, storage space has become a highly critical factor in its maintenance. Despite continual selective reduction in the earlier card stock, the Division continues to outgrow the space required for the inventory. Moreover, sales from the earlier series printed between 1898 and 1949 account for 26 percent (about 9 million cards) of all card sales. As the result of an experimental project undertaken in 1960 and 1961 to fill part of the orders for out-of-print cards by means of electrostatic card printing through the Copyflo process, it was determined that satisfactory cards can be reproduced in a short time within a cost range that is reasonable though somewhat higher than that of the printed cards supplied from inventory. By discarding older stock, yet continuing to fill orders for older cards on demand by the Xerox process, it would be possible to release approximately 3,000 square feet of floor space for newer card stock. To undertake the program envisioned would require 30 employees and 10 microfilm cameras. Changes in procedures would release 10 employees from the existing staff to work with the 20 calculator-filers requested for fiscal year 1962. Ten of these employees would be engaged in operating the cameras. remaining 20 would be engaged in the following operations: The 1. Scanning the cards to determine whether they will be reprinted, multilithed, or reproduced by Copyfio. 2. Withdrawing the master card from the record catalog maintained in the reprint unit. 3. Computing the formula on the order slip to determine the number of cards required. 4. Refiling master card in the record catalog. 5. Matching order slips with the Copyfio reproduced cards. 6. Reassembling individual orders by subscriber account number. 7. Billing and shipping the cards. Mr. STEED. We will include the detailed justifications at this point in explanation of the group of 13 positions for work on the catalogs, (The material is as follows): etc. To maintain currency and completeness of book catalogs and related publications Post 1955 imprints section: 1 GS-9 assistant editor___. 4 GS-5 searcher-filers at $4,347 3 GS-3 arrangers at $3,765--- 8 positions______ Cumulative catalog section: 2 GS-3 arranger-mounters at $3,765 New serial titles section: 2 GS-7 editorial assistants at $5,366_ 1 GS-4 typist___ $6, 448 17,388 11, 295 35, 131 7,530 10, 732 4,056 14,788 3 positions.. 13 positions.... Post 1955 imprints section, 8 positions 57, 449 In 1956 the Library of Congress Catalog, Books: Authors became the National Union Catalog, incorporating for the first time holdings of titles reported by cooperating libraries. This increased the value of the catalog enormously for both libraries and researchers throughout the country. The post-1955 imprints section is primarily responsible for the editorial preparation of the National Union Catalog and the maintenance of the National Union Catalog control file. The cumulative catalog section is responsible for the physical preparation and publication of the National Union Catalog. The continual growth in the number of libraries reporting holdings and in the number of titles reported is reflected in the following table: 1956 1957. 1958 Increase in reports of Library holdings 634, 560 696, 664 Each report must be searched against the National Union Catalog control file in order to determine its processing treatment (depending upon whether it is a new or previously reported title). As of December 31, 1960, there were 360,000 such reports on hand to be searched. Delay in processing these reports affects the flow of work to the cumulative catalog section and affects the quality and scope of the National Union Catalog. The filing load in the control file, which should be kept as up to date as possible, at the same time, reached a total of approximately 365,000 entries a year. The present staff of four searcher-filers is entirely inadequate to cope with this inflow. On the basis of current production capacity, it is estimated that 4 additional GS-5 searcher-filers are required to keep up with the searching and filing connected with this work. At present, the post-1955 imprints sections does not have any card arrangers. Arranging previously has been accomplished by detailing other help as time was available, but the growth of the work has simultaneously increased the amount of arranging to be done while eliminating the availability of other staff to do the work. It is estimated that the arranging of incoming cards including Library of Congress cards, outside reports, preliminary cards, revised cards, added entries, cross references, etc., requires 3 GS-3 arrangers. These positions would be sufficient to reduce the arranging arrearage of 330,000 entries and meet the continuing growth requirements of the National Union Catalog. Approximately 50,000 reports are on hand awaiting editing. Of these, an estimated 9,000 are in the Cyrillic alphabet. To handle the increased editing load, an additional assistant editor, GS-9, preferably competent in Slavic languages is required. Cumulative catalog section, 2 positions The cumulative catalog section has also been handicapped by insufficient staff adequately to meet the demands made by the growth of the National Union Catalog. The pressure of meeting monthly deadlines has prevented the regular adding of additional location symbols for inclusion in the National Union Catalog quinquennial issue (1958-62). These reports of holdings, received after the monthly and annual volumes of National Union Catalog have appeared, as of December 31, 1960, comprised an arrearage of about 700,000 cards. To provide depth of staff to handle the increasing number of reports and to assure greater flexibility of staff in meeting the demands of frequent publication deadlines, two additional GS-3 arranger-mounter positions are requested to arrange cards, mount cards, and add location symbols. New Serial Titles section, 3 positions There has been a marked upsurge in the volume and importance of serial publications issued throughout the world. New Serial Titles, a union list of serials which started publication after December 31, 1949, serves effectively to record and control new serial holdings. Growth of interest in this publication is illustrated by the increase in subscribers and the increase in cooperating libraries reporting their holdings. In 1958, 54,219 titles were reported to New Serial Titles and 31,543 locations of holdings were published. In 1959, these figures rose to 55,010 and 35,301 respectively. In 1960 they were 58,022 and 35,352. Plans to issue a 10-year cumulation of New Serial Titles resulted in such an intensification of interest that in the first 6 months of fiscal 1961, 77,134 titles were reported and 58,250 additional locations were recorded. In addition to processing a growing number of titles and reports as indicated above, other workload increases can be expected. Editorial work will increase as the number of titles subject to change and revision increases. To continue maintaining on an accurate and current basis the control of new serial holdings in the United States and Canada, 2 additional GS-7 editorial assistants are requested. The physical production of "New Serial Titles" in the same typed and mounted format as the other Library of Congress bibliographical publications has, up to now, been divided between two GS-4 editorial clerks. The increase in reports and reporting libraries makes it essential that they be free to give their full time to their primary responsibilities of editing and preparing final copy for publication, and maintaining the alphabetical annual files and the subject and country files. Therefore, one GS-4 typist is requested for the purpose of typing the entries which are then mounted on boards to produce the publication. Effective with the 1961 volume, the subscription price of the publication will be $75 instead of $55 to meet increasing costs. The following table is submitted in support of the three additional positions requested for "New Serial Titles." Mr. Bow. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. GENERAL INCREASE OF THE LIBRARY Mr. STEED. The next item is on page 103 of the justifications and on 101 of the committee print, increase of the Library of Congress. In 1961 regular bill there was $400,000, the 1962 estimate is $470,000. As I understand it, this $70,000 increase is for microfilm work, primarily for newspapers. Mr. MUMFORD. That is correct. Mr. STEED. Will you comment on that, and what you expect to gain in space saved, and so forth? INCREASE FOR MICROFILMING WORK Mr. MUMFORD. As was indicated in the discussion this morning, we have a large amount, I think approximately 100,000 volumes of newspapers, deteriorating, that should be microfilmed as fast as we can. Our present program is much too small for this task. We would also expect to include some brittle books other than newspapers that are practically ready to disintegrate, and microfilm them before it is too late to save them. Mr. STEED. If you had all the money you needed, how much microfilming could you do? Mr. MUMFORD. This is a hard question to answer, Mr. Chairman. We could do a great deal more than what this amount calls for. Mr. STEED. Just take these newspapers, for example. If you get those microfilmed, in space-what do you save there? Mr. MUMFORD. I think we indicated this morning that newspapers on microfilm occupied only about 8 percent of the space occupied by conventional bound volumes, but as to what the total of that for a hundred thousand volumes would be, I cannot calculate readily. We could supply a statement for the record. Mr. STEED. I think it would help if you did, because this space thing is going to be with us always, and even where it is not a matter of just preserving something that is deteriorating, it could be that a lot of microfilming could be adopted just for the sake of saving space. (The statement follows:) SPACE SAVING THROUGH MICROFILMING OF NEWSPAPER VOLUMES The replacement of 100,000 bound volumes of newspapers by microfilm would result in a net saving of approximately 54,850 square feet of stack space, based upon the equipment now used in the Library Annex Building. This is computed as follows: 100,000 newspaper volumes occupy about 50,000 double shelves, which require some 59,600 square feet of stack space; 200,000 replacement reels of microfilm (negative and positive) would occupy about 3,700 double shelves, which would require some 4,750 square feet of stack space. The use of microfilm would therefore save nearly 92 percent of the space now required for these bound newspaper volumes. |