rate, complete replacement would require about 21 years, as compared to the generally accepted period of 10 years. I might add that this keeps pace pretty much with the level at which our requests have been presented on an annual basis for additional typewriters and replacements. Mr. STEED. Is your rule of thumb for replacement of typewriters generally the same as other Government agencies? Do you turn your old machines over to GSA for disposal, and buy your new ones outright? Mr. Gooch. We have a return on our old machines. Mr. FOLEY. We trade them in when we buy new machines. The Federal Supply Schedule contracts Mr. STEED. The Clerk of the House indicated the typewriters are turned in to the GSA and reconditioned and sold, and he said it was his experience that the Government realized more money for them that way than they did when he traded them in. Mr. FOLEY. We have done that. When they get them, they sell to whomever the customer might be. We ourselves have purchased a number of reconditioned typewriters from GSA. Mr. STEED. You may proceed. MOVABLE PARTITIONS Mr. Gooch. The next item is for movable partitions, an increase from $10,000 to $15,000. The primary purpose of this increase is to cover the added cost of purchasing noncombustible materials for partition construction in lieu of combustible materials used heretofore. Noncombustible wallboard costs nearly twice as much per square foot as the combustible type previously used, while fire-retardant paint now applied to wood studding and trim is nearly four times as expensive per gallon as regular paint. In addition to this cost factor, the availability of rental space to which Library units will be moved during fiscal 1963 will open up approximately 60,000 square feet of space within the Library buildings and permit some much-needed space adjustments. In the course of making these adjustments, movable partitions will be required to separate operating units, provide private offices for officials, and generally improve occupancy conditions. Aside from the rather special circumstance, the need for partitions elsewhere in the Library buildings continues to exist. The acquisition of rental space will by no means solve the Library's space problems, with the result that there will still be need for adjustments to crowding, increased services, and changing programs. In the course of accommodating to these conditions, the construction of partitions is essential to eliminate distracting noises, promote efficiency in operations, provide security to classified or monetarily valuable materials, and simplify the administration of space allocation and occupancy. OFFICE MACHINES The next item is a calculating machine for the Copyright Office. This is a decrease of $1,100. This machine is requested for the joint use of the Assistant Register's office, the Examining Division, the Cataloging Division, and occasionally the Service Division. We are requesting 15 adding machines for the Copyright Office, the Order Division, and the Card Division, totaling $5,000 in order to expedite the work and meet the increasing amount of statistical computation necessary in the operation of those three units. METAL BOOKCASES-LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE The next item is for metal bookcases in the Legislative Reference Service, an increase from $3,300 to $3,600. Last year's appropriation of $3,300 for metal bookcases for the Legislative Reference Service was absorbed in supplying the American Law Division with such cases but was not quite sufficient to complete the job. In order to finish that project and to supply the Education and Public Welfare Division, we are requesting $3,600 for the current year. Wooden shelving is replaced by such metal bookcases, which are also used as partitions between sections and areas within divisions and thus serve a double purpose, actually performing an economical function. MISCELLANEOUS OFFICE EQUIPMENT The next is for miscellaneous items of office equipment, $2,900, an increase of $600 over the current year. These are: Microcard, microprint, and microfilm reading machines for the law library, $700. Replacement of an obsolete letter opener and letter sealer for the Card Division, $500. A flexoline stand and pedestal for the Card Division to maintain a current file of 14,000 subscribers, $200. A flexoline desk stand for the Science and Technology Division, $200, for use in the maintenance of a reference correspondence index. A verifax copier, for the Science and Technology Division, $400, a routine type of office copying device which saves typing time. A perforating machine for the Order Division, $900, where an increasing volume of microfilm is being received and where the present system of perforating by hand is cumbersome. The new machine requested is an automatic electric device which will enable Library of Congress identification, order numbers, and date to be perforated in one operation. MICROFILM READERS The next item is microfilm readers for Serial Division and Stack and Reader Division, $4,500. Nine new machines are requested, six for the Serial Division and three for the Stack and Reader Division. The Serial Division now has 18 such machines in use in the newspaper reference room where microfilm copies of newspaper volumes are used with the bound newspapers collection. We have a very heavy service load in the newspaper reference room. The accelerated program to acquire preservation newspaper microfilms and dispose of deteriorating bound newspaper volumes is very greatly in evidence. There is, in addition to the microfilm reader installation of the newspaper reference room, a microfilm reading room in the main building where we now have 12 machines and for which we are requesting 3 additional. Here, again, the collection of microfilm is growing at a steady rate and reader use of the material requires additional facilities for their accommodation. SIGN PEINTING MACHINE The next item is for a sign printing machine at a cost of $4,600. This is an electrically operated device, Print-A-Sign, which can be operated at a much greater speed than the present hand-operated device. Mr. STEED. Is that not the sort of thing you could acquire from the Government Printing Office? Mr. Gooch. I do not think it is, sir. Mr. STEED. Could you not acquire the type of work you produce with that machine from the Government Printing Office? Mr. FOLEY. I do not think the Government Printing Office has this particular kind of equipment. A good many of our signs are things we had to have yesterday or the first thing in the morning. The Government Printing Office would not be able to give us such fast service. They do print a good many signs for us, multicopies of the same sign: for instance, signs announcing holiday hours when there may be 50 signs printed by the Government Printing Office. But the signs for which the Print-A-Sign is requested are emergency signs, signs for exhibits and for directional guidance that must be printed in a hurry, and usually there are only one or two copies of each sign required. Mr. Gooch. I might add that a very voluminous sign project is in almost constant progress in the Library because of the shifting of books in order to relieve congestion in various parts of the stacks. We must replace lettered signs that are mounted at the ends of the book ranges showing the book numbers of the first and last books in each range. So that one can more readily locate the book numbers for which he is searching. The replacement of these single-copy signs involves thousands of printings in the case of a major shifting job and that would be the sort of thing we would not be able to get from the Government Printing Office. Mr. STEED. How long has the Library used this machine? Mr. STEED. I thought you said this was a replacement? Mr. Gooch. We have a so-called embossograph process machine which has to be hand set and spaced. It is very slow. We got it in the late forties and it will suffice for certain types of signs. We would expect to use it as a standby to supplement the Print-A-Sign machine in certain types of work. CARD TRAYS FOR CARD STOCK The next item is card trays for card stock, Card Division, $60,000, In order to provide proper housing for card stock, an allotment of $60,000 is needed for the purchase of 30.000 card trays. These trays will be used almost entirely to replace existing steel trays which have worn out from years of constant use as well as to replace homemade trays constructed of fiberboard and wood. The card stock number more than 100 million printed cards which are housed in 120,000 trays. The acquisition of 30,000 metal trays would complete the replacement of the wood and fiberboard trays, some of which we have been retiring over a period of time. This would greatly improve the access to the card stock. Mr. STEED. Is that the type of project you have to accomplish in 1 year or is it a continuing sort of thing? Mr. Gooch. It is not absolutely necessary to complete this in 1 year. I would expect that with the 30,000 trays requested here we would have no further request of this kind for some period of time, unless there was need to replace defective trays. RECORDING EQUIPMENT, MUSIC DIVISION The next item is for recording equipment, Music Division, $8,000. The principal item of expense in this request would be for the replacement of two Ampex tape recorders at a total cost of $5,000. These machines are 13 years old and are worn out to the extent that repairs and the replacement of parts have become uneconomical and unsatisfactory. Smooth operating and trouble-free recorders are essential to the successful operation of the Recording Laboratory, which is a part of the Music Division. The remainder of the funds requested would be used for the purchase of necessary parts and accessories for other laboratory equipment. The Recording Laboratory records public addresses, meetings, board hearings, and other official events in the Library, including the recording of performances of leading artists in the fields of music and literature in the Coolidge Auditorium. The Laboratory also records folk music, interviews, and poets reading their own poetry for the archives of music and literature. The Laboratory is further responsible for the operation and maintenance of its electronic facilities and for the storage and preservation of the Library's collections of recorded materials. CARD CATALOG CASES, CATALOG MAINTENANCE DIVISION The next item is for card catalog cases for expansion of the Public Catalog, Catalog Maintenance Division, $37,800. The public catalog in the main reading room contains approximately 12 million cards and the equipment containing these cards has now reached capacity. Many card trays, in fact, are already too crowded, resulting in inconvenience to readers and others who use the catalog. Mr. STEED. This is a separate item from the request for card trays for card stocks in the Card Division? Mr. Gooch. Yes. Mr. STEED. And also this is an expansion item rather than replacement? Mr. GoocH. Yes. Mr. STEED. On the item of card trays for card stocks in the Card Division, is that the sort of thing recoverable in the fees charged for catalog cards? Mr. Gooch. That is expected to be recoverable from the intake from the sales, yes. The crowding of the card trays in the Public Catalog also reduces the efficiency and production of Library employees who are responsible for filing new cards in the catalog. Over 300,000 new cards are added to the catalog annually. I might add that it considerably decreases the efficiency of the public use of the catalog. The funds requested will provide nearly 2.000 catalog card trays, which will hold approximately 2 million cards and provide room for expansion for the next 6 or 7 years. The cases will have to be specially designed and constructed in order to fit in with the architectural characteristics of the main reading room and adjacent areas, and suitable tables will have to be provided for the use of readers, filers, and others who will be working at the catalog. FILE CABINETS, PRINTS, AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION The last item is for five-drawer. letter-size file cabinets for the Prints and Photographs Division, $7,700. This request is made to permit the complete replacement of approximately 140 four-drawer cabinets, now in use, most of which are in very poor condition due to age and wear. These cabinets are presently used for the storage of valuable photographic negatives. The acquisition of five-drawer cabinets will provide space for a 25-percent expansion of the negative collection without using any additional floorspace, an important consideration in view of the Library's space problems. If suitable reconditioned cabinets become available through Federal Supply Service sources, they will of course be obtained and used for this purpose in lieu of buying new equipment. However, at the present time it has not been possible to get them through Federal Supply. AVERAGE OVERALL ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY COLLECTIONS Mr. STEED. On an average day what is the approximate net accumulation of material in the Library? Mr. Gooch. Addition to the permanent collections? Mr. Gooch. I do not have figures on a day-to-day basis. On an average there are about 300,000 volumes a year. Mr. ROGERS. Generally, it varies between three-quarters of a million and a million pieces of materials. In 1961, however, there were 1,810,000 pieces. This includes such things as maps and manuscripts which will not occupy as much space as books. Mr. STEED. What would be the book intake? Mr. ROGERS. In 1961, about 254,000 volumes and pamphlets. We cataloged 96,569 titles representing a larger number of volumes added to the collection. We figure 40 pieces of material come in every minute of the 8-hour day. We do not add all that material to the collection. We add about one piece in five. The other material is used in exchange programs with other libraries and we also make them available to educational institutions. That means about 5 million pieces a year intake but in general we keep only 1 million or slightly less. Mr. STEED. Mr. Horan, any questions? Mr. HORAN. No questions. |