College and Research Libraries By J . R. B L A N C H A R D Agricultural Research and the Exchange Problem1 Mr. Blanchard is librarian, College of Agriculture, University of Nebraska. IT W I L L probably be asked—in what way are the exchange relations and problems of agricultural libraries different from those of other libraries ? Essentially there is little difference except that in agricultural li- braries they can assume larger proportions than in libraries specializing in other fields of knowledge. T h e literature relating to agriculture is enormous and a goodly portion of it is printed in serial publications and bul- letins issued by state and national govern- ments all over the world. A great deal is also issued by bodies that are quasi-official in nature. T h e predominance of official publi- cations in this field is undoubtedly due to the immediate importance of agriculture to the general welfare. Governments find it expe- dient, for political and social as well as eco- nomic reasons, to keep their people well in- formed of advances in agricultural knowl- edge. T h i s situation is a mixed blessing for the agricultural library. O n the credit side it means many valuable publications are available free of charge—not counting, of course, the processing cost. O n the debit side it means that increasing selectivity is necessary to keep our heads above the grow- ing flood of literature and that a well or- ganized exchange program requiring many man hours of work is a vital necessity. Anything that can be done to simplify this 1 Paper presented at a joint meeting of the A g r i - cultural, Engineering and Teacher-Training Sections, A . C . R . L . , at the Trans-Mississippi meeting of the A . L . A . , Sept. 5. 1949. task will be of peculiar importance to all libraries specializing in agriculture. Outside of the U . S . D . A . Library and its branches the majority of agricultural li- braries in this country fall into the univer- sity and college group. These libraries are, in almost every instance, connected with state agricultural experiment stations and agricultural extension services which issue large quantities of publications each year. Some are general libraries specializing in ag- riculture and engineering and are a part of the state A. & M . colleges. Others are concerned almost entirely with agriculture and are connected with colleges of agricul- ture which form a part of the state universi- ties. As would be expected there are variations in the exchange programs at the different institutions. For illustrative pur- poses it might be of interest to describe the procedures at the College of Agriculture of the University of Nebraska. T h e publica- tion of the Nebraska Agricultural Experi- ment Station literature is under the super- vision of the agricultural editor who also as- sists in the publication of the Nebraska Ex- tension Service material. Maintenance of the mailing lists and the physical task of forwarding the publications of the Experi- ment Station and the Extension Service are coordinated into one unit. T o save hand- ling expense the printed material is not mailed as issued but is forwarded once every three months. Experiment Station bulletins are sent abroad by way of the Smithsonian Institution. Extension Service publications are sent abroad only on special request. T h e 40 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES exchange of publications is under the juris- diction of the librarian of the College of Agriculture who must approve all requests for exchange and who initiates such re- quests. T h i s practice was recommended by the Agricultural Libraries Section and ap- proved by the Association of L a n d - G r a n t Colleges and Universities in 1941 with a statement t h a t : E a c h l i b r a r i a n of a l a n d - g r a n t college li- b r a r y s h o u l d c o o p e r a t e w i t h t h e d i r e c t o r of his E x p e r i m e n t s t a t i o n in e s t a b l i s h i n g a g e n - e r a l f o r m u l a f o r e x c h a n g e policies f o r S t a - tion p u b l i c a t i o n s . T h e l i b r a r i a n s h o u l d h a v e c h a r g e of t h e e x c h a n g e lists. H e s h o u l d a p - p r o v e each e x c h a n g e , n o t i n g t h a t the l i b r a r y receives p u b l i c a t i o n s of e q u i v a l e n t v a l u e to those s e n t . 2 T h e r e is also an exchange section at Love Library on the main campus of the univer- sity. T h e work of both units is, however, very closely integrated. T h e Love Library unit uses Nebraska agricultural publica- tions, when necessary, to bolster its bargain- ing position. Arrangements are being made so the College of Agriculture Library can use the general university publications for the same purpose, including on occasion books issued by the University of Nebraska Press. It is hoped eventually to coordinate all of the exchange work of the University of Nebraska into one unit. T h e r e are three aspects of the exchange problem—the exchange of duplicates, do- mestic exchange and foreign exchange. T h e exchange of duplicates has been discussed re- peatedly at various meetings of the Agricul- tural Libraries Section. It was felt by many that a system comparable to the Medi- cal Library Association's duplicate exchange arrangement would be useful. T h e U . S . D . A . Library for several years had a "wants and offers" section in its Agricul- tural Library Notes which proved helpful in obtaining and disposing of duplicates. In 2 U . S. Dent, of A g r i c u l t u r e . L i b r a r y . Agricul- tural Library Notes 1 7 : 4 , January 1942. 1929 Claribel Barnett, then U . S . D . A . li- brarian, suggested that money be con- tributed by the college and station libraries to pay for the time of an assistant to handle the duplicate exchange work at her library. N o permanent arrangement for this sug- gestion was worked out, however. A gen- eral agreement was reached by the Agricul- tural Libraries Section in 19413 when it was recommended to the Association of L a n d - G r a n t Colleges and Universities that all duplicates of experiment station material be returned, if possible, to their issuing of- fices. I t was felt, and logically enough, that it would be more efficient if issuing offices were the sole source for back copies of their own publications. In practice this arrange- ment has not always worked too well. M a n y stations apparently prefer not to be encumbefed by large stocks of duplicates or don't have the time to store and dispose of duplicates arriving in odd lots at various times. T h e 1941 meeting also heard the report of the Committee to Investigate the Possibilities of Setting up a Clearing House for Duplicate Public Documents other than State Experiment Station and Extension Division Publications. T h i s committee, al- though burdened with a long name, made an excellent report in which it was recom- mended that agricultural libraries join the Association of College and Reference Li- braries' duplicate exchange plan rather than start an independent system of their own. W e have found at Nebraska that it is prac- tical and satisfactory to list duplicates of agricultural publications on the periodic list which is circulated through the A . C . R . L . membership by the University of Nebraska Libraries. If the A . C . R . L . arrangement continues to work satisfactorily it would not seem necessary to have a separate organiza- tion for handling duplicates of agricultural publications. T h e U.S. Book Exchange is also a means for the disposal and collection 3 U . S . D . A . L i b r a r y , op. cit. JANUARY, 1950 41 of duplicates. T h e Detroit Public Library withdrew from the Duplicate Exchange Union recently, citing the following rea- sons for its action: 1. T h e U n i t e d S t a t e s B o o k E x c h a n g e w i l l be a m u c h m o r e efficient w a y of e x c h a n g i n g s u r p l u s m a t e r i a l b e t w e e n l i b r a r i e s . 2. T h e t i m e saved becomes a t a n g i b l e t h i n g w h e n the c o m p i l a t i o n of e x c h a n g e lists is e l i m i n a t e d . 3. T h e t i m e saved by checking s e v e r a l l o n g lists f r o m U S B E i n s t e a d of m a n y s h o r t e x - c h a n g e lists w i l l be p r o f i t a b l e 4 T h e domestic exchange situation presents, as far as I can see, no insuperable difficul- ties. I would like to make an observation, however—I believe many of us may be pay- ing for domestic publications that we ought to receive free on an exchange basis. If the situation were explored thoroughly, and perhaps some of you have done that al- ready, we would probably find that our ex- periment station and extension service ma- terial is being sent without charge to many associations and organizations who are charging us for their publications. A post- card would no doubt be sufficient in many cases to save us several dollars of subscrip- tion money a year. T h e r e are some organ- izations, of course, who operate on such a slender financial margin that it would be impossible for them to supply free copies of their literature. T h e Association of Land- G r a n t Colleges and Universities has given its blessing to the use of station publications for exchange with "outside" libraries in the following statement: L i b r a r i e s n o t c o n n e c t e d w i t h L a n d - g r a n t colleges, E x p e r i m e n t S t a t i o n s , o r t h e U . S . D e p a r t m e n t of A g r i c u l t u r e , b u t i n t e r e s t e d in a g r i c u l t u r e , shall receive p u b l i c a t i o n s of an E x p e r i m e n t S t a t i o n , if p u b l i c a t i o n s of equiv- a l e n t v a l u e a r e s e n t on e x c h a n g e to t h e l i b r a r y w h i c h is associated w i t h t h e S t a t i o n . H o w e v e r , no l i b r a r y of an i n s t i t u t i o n o r o r - g a n i z a t i o n primarily i n t e r e s t e d in a g r i c u l t u r e 4 F l a h e r t y , T e r e s e , chief. Book Selection Dept., De- troit P u b l i c L i b r a r y , [ C i r c u l a r letter of M a y 9, 1 9 4 9 ] . 42 CO s h o u l d be b a r r e d f r o m t h e m a i l i n g list b e c a u s e its p u b l i c a t i o n s a r e n o t of e q u a l v a l u e w i t h those of t h e S t a t i o n . 5 T h e principal difficulties at most institu- tions are connected with the international exchange situation. Some of these problems a r e : 1. Exchange relations are haphazard. In many cases exchange with a foreign institu- tion is set up, not because we planned it that way, but because there was a chance in- quiry for a certain publication or because the agency abroad wrote and suggested an exchange. An up-to-date list of foreign ag- ricultural institutions which gives the titles of literature available on exchange is badly needed.6 As it is now we can only grope in the dark and hope we have full coverage of needed material. Robert B. Downs re- marks on this situation in his interesting article "International Exchanges" published in Science: " N o list of foreign publications available for exchange is in print, and con- sequently, arrangements must be negotiated directly between libraries, frequently on a hit-or-miss basis."7 2. T h e larger research libraries, particu- larly the U . S . D . A . Library,, often receive extra copies of foreign agricultural publica- tions. In most cases there aren't enough copies to send to all the agricultural li- braries in this country. T h e question of how they should be distributed and to which libraries is an important problem. 3. Agricultural libraries receive and pro- cess many foreign publications which don't appear to be worthwhile. In some cases the material is simple propaganda or of a popu- lar nature and of little research value. Quite often publications received are in languages so obscure, obscure at least to 5 U . S . D . A . L i b r a r y , op. cit. 6 U N E S C O proposes to issue in the near f u t u r e a manual on the international exchange of publications. A n appendix containing a classified list of institutions which are w i l l i n g to e x c h a n g e publications will be published later. It is hoped that a comprehensive listing of a g r i c u l t u r a l institutions will be included. 7 Science n.s. 1 0 5 : 4 1 7 , 1947. LLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES Americans, that they are never used. Re- cent studies made of bibliographies in scien- tific serial publications published in the United States show the percentage of ref- erences cited in languages other than Eng- lish and German is relatively small. H e r - mann Fussier, in his exhaustive study "Literature Used by Chemists and Physi- cists,"8 shows that in 1939, 64.5 per cent of the serial references from a selected list of American journals were published in G r e a t Britain and this country, 25 per cent were published in Germany, 3.0 per cent in France and 7.5 per cent covered the rest of the world. T h e ratio in 1946 was about the same. James G . Hodgson, in his paper " T h e Use of Periodicals in a Special Field: N u t r i t i o n " 9 found from a study of serial references in the Journal of Nutrition for 1945 and 1946 that "only four non- English titles were recorded among the first 48 in point of use." H e points out, how- ever, that this situation could be partly at- tributed to war conditions which prevented many of the foreign serials from reaching this country. I found in a study of Soil Science that of the 103 5 references cited in that journal for 1939, 80.3 per cent were issued in the U.S. and the British Common- wealth, 13 per cent were in German and 2.3 per cent in French. Only 4.4 per cent remained for other languages of the world. T h e situation was even more lopsided in 1948 when 92.6 per cent of the references were in English, 3.3 per cent in German and 1.3 per cent in French, leaving 2.8 per cent for the remaining languages. I t must be remembered, of course, that difficult times abroad have affected the amount of foreign agricultural literature published. It is also quite possible that more non-English literature would have been used if it had been more widely available. Even with the material available, however, there is still 8 Library Quarterly 19:128, A p r i l 1949. 9 Colorado A & M College L i b r a r y . Library Bulletin 19, M a y 1948. the great barrier of language. N o t many of our agricultural research men can read any of the Slavonic, Near Eastern or F a r East- ern languages, nor should they be expected to. T h e number who can read with ease more than one Western European language is certainly small. English language ab- stracts at the end of articles do help, but the Russians and their satellites seem to be dropping that custom. T h i s paucity of ref- erence to material other than that in the English language would make it appear that our research men aren't true scholars. I found, however, in a study of the Land- wirtschaftliche Jahrbiicher f o r 1 9 3 9 t h a t German scientists show the same tendencies as our own men in that 92 per cent of their references were in German and only 2.9 per cent in English. It would appear, then, that a service that would translate agricul- tural literature expeditiously, accurately and without too much expense, would be a great boon to research. A committee formed by the Agricultural Libraries Sec- tion in 1948, however, found interest in such a project to be negligible. T h i s com- mittee, of which Louise Bercaw, assistant librarian of the U . S . D . A . Library was chair- man and of which I was a member, sent questionnaires to all land-grant college li- braries asking if they had translation serv- ices of their own and if they were satisfac- tory. T h e y were also asked what transla- tion services they used if there were none available at their own institutions. T h e questionnaires that were returned indicated the surprising fact that the large majority of colleges had no formal translation serv- ices available and that in most cases there appeared to be no particular need for them. W i t h few exceptions a large percentage of the questionnaires indicated that the modern language faculties could handle the small amount of translation work that was neces- sary. It would appear, then, from this lack of interest in translation services and the JANUARY, 1950 43 small percentage of foreign references found in agricultural literature, that we are spend- ing too much time and money in processing some of these publications from abroad. It would certainly be to our advantage if we had available a list which would supply us with authoritative information about ex- changeable publications. I n this way we would avoid receiving and processing such obscure material and could answer the occa- sional request for infrequently used items by means of interlibrary loan or by ordering photocopies from the larger research li- braries. M a n y of us are now depending on the U . S . D . A . Library for this service be- cause of its excellent photocopying labora- tory and the complete coverage of its Bib- liography of Agriculture. I t h a s b e e n s u g - gested, and it might well be feasible, that agricultural libraries receiving publications in out-of-the-way languages send them to the Department of Agriculture Library so that they might be listed in the Bibliography of Agriculture and made available to every- body by a group which can handle the languages concerned. In time we may ex- pect the regional deposit or storage li- braries to have on hand literature of this sort. An expressed function of the M i d - west Inter-library Corporation is: T o e s t a b l i s h a n d t o m a i n t a i n a M i d w e s t I n t e r - l i b r a r y C e n t e r f o r t h e c o o p e r a t i v e custody, o r g a n i z a t i o n , h o u s i n g , servicing ( a n d f o r some m a t e r i a l s , o w n e r s h i p ) of l i t t l e used r e s e a r c h m a t e r i a l s . 1 0 W h a t has been done to solve these diffi- culties and what can we do about them now ? T h e r e has been in the past, and there still is, a great deal of general interest in the international exchange situation. Gov- ernments, learned institutions and librarians have planned and worked for years to have better exchange relations. Activity in this field has increased considerably since the end 1 0 F r o d i n , Reuben S. " T h e M i d w e s t I n t e r l i b r a r y C o r p o r a t i o n . " A.L.A. Bulletin 4 3 : 1 7 1 , M a y 1949. of W o r l d W a r I I . T h e war and its dis- ruptions has made us realize the need for a stronger and more centralized system of exchange which would apply not only to national but to state and private institutions and libraries as well. T h e creation of U N E S C O , with its mandate to encourage international exchanges of all kinds, has also caused greater activity and permits us to hope that sufficient support by librarians throughout the country will eventually bring a solution to this difficult problem. T h e most extensive discussions in recent years were at the Conference on Interna- tional, Cultural, Educational, and Scientific Exchanges at Princeton University in 1946. T h e preliminary memoranda on this con- ference were written by Edwin E . Williams and R u t h V . Noble and published by A.L.A. in 1947.11 T h i s publication sum- marizes the discussions very admirably and contains excellent historical background ma- terial. In spite of these discussions, how- ever, nothing has been done, as far as I know, to solve the international exchange problems of agricultural libraries at a na- tional level. T h e r e have been attempts to solve certain parts of the problem. F o r instance, the U . S . D . A . Library in 1946 sent copies of its foreign mailing list to all directors of agricultural experiment sta- tions, with the hope it would help in putting the stations' mailing lists on a postwar basis. T h e r e is also in existence a committee of the Association of L a n d - G r a n t Colleges and Universities which is concerned with inter- national exchange relations as they affect land-grant colleges. T h e chairman, Harold Macy, who is associate director of the M i n - nesota Agricultural Experiment Station, has written to me that his committee has done some work on compiling a list of for- 1 1 W i l l i a m s . E d w i n E . and Noble, Ruth V . , Con- ference on International, Cultural, Educational, and Scientific Exchanges. Princeton University—Nov. 25- 26,, 1946. Preliminary Memoranda. Recommendations adopted. Summary of discussion. Chicago, A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y Association, 1947. z i o p . 44 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES eign institutions with which exchange is de- sirable.12 W h e n finished this will probably be s i m i l a r t o Agricultural Research Institu- tions and Library Centers in Foreign Coun- tries, compiled by H o w a r d Lawton Knight, e d i t o r of t h e Experiment Station Record. T h e last edition of this list was issued in 1934 by the Office of Experiment Stations. D r . Macy feels the greatest need is a better arrangement for the distribution of incom- ing material from abroad and hopes the li- brary people can do something about it. H e believes the present system of distribution to foreign agencies by way of the Smithsonian Institution is satisfactory. T h e r e are several ways in which we can attack these problems. A central exchange agency is an obvious solution. Such an or- ganization could be an agricultural unit forming an integral part of a national cen- ter such as the U.S. Book Exchange, or, if that is not feasible, an independent agency handling only agricultural exchanges. In either case I should think such a unit would need to be closely associated with or phys- ically located in the U . S . D . A . Library where extensive mailing lists and contacts with ag- ricultural agencies abroad already exist. T h e need for national agricultural libraries to take leadership in international exchange relations was noted by D r . S. von Frauen- dorfer, formerly librarian of the Interna- tional Institute of Agriculture, who re- ported to the 14th International Conference for Documentation in 1938 that " I n each country there should be a large central agri- cultural library which would function as the representative organ for coordinating agri- cultural documentation within its own coun- try and to which the relations with foreign countries could be entrusted."1 3 If this line of reasoning is followed it might also be sug- gested that the Engineering Societies Library 12 M a c y , H a r o l d , [ L e t t e r to J. R . B l a n c h a r d ] June 28, 1949 ( M S ) . 1 3 U . S . D . A . L i b r a r y , op. cit., 14:48, J a n u a r y 1939. in N e w York serve as the clearing house for the exchange of engineering literature. One always asks, if he is practical, how such an agency would be financed. A sep- arate agricultural exchange agency could no doubt depend on some federal funds but would probably need to be supported prin- cipally by the individual agricultural li- braries or institutions. T h e success of the Cooperative Acquisition Project and the in- terest in the Farmington Plan show that cooperative ventures of this sort can suc- ceed. If it is a part of the U.S. Book Ex- change, financing would presumably be on a cost per piece basis comparable to the amount charged to American libraries now participating in the U.S.B.E. program. T h e U.S. Book Exchange, formerly the American Book Center, recently received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and is apparenty well on its way to becoming the national exchange bureau. One hun- dred ninety-four American libraries have subscribed to its program and it has the backing of the Council of National Library Associations, T h e Library of Congress, U N E S C O , the American Council of Learned Societies, the Engineers Joint Council, the American Council on Educa- tion and other groups. T h e U.S.B.E. will accept publications in science and technol- ogy for exchange purposes as well as ma- terial in other fields of knowledge. Docu- ments, books, pamphlets and most other forms of publications are acceptable except newspapers. A t present only institutions in the hard currency countries are charged for this service. T h e fees are 5O0 for a bound monograph, 350 for a periodical issue or un- bound monograph and 9O0 for a bound periodical. Shipping costs on material re- ceived and sent is paid for by the participat- ing libraries.14 T h i s agency, if it is successful, may well be the solution to our 14 " U n i t e d States Book E x c h a n g e to Continue under G r a n t . " Library Journal 74:184-85, F e b . i , 1949. JANUARY, 1950 45 exchange problems. I t should have, how- ever, a unit that would specialize in the exchange of agricultural publications. American research in agriculture is highly respected abroad. T h e r e is a great demand for state agricultural experiment publica- tions which are issued in ever-increasing quantities. If exchange relations for this valuable material were centered in one agency it would mean a bargaining power that would benefit all American libraries. A tremendous saving in time and money would also result. If computed, the time spent on agricultural exchange w o r k in all of the 48 states would surely amount to a respectable total. A n exchange center for agricultural li- braries, whether an independent agency or part of a larger group, would, as I visualize it, perform the following tasks: I. Act as a clearing house for exchange relations between agricultural institutions in this country and abroad. T h e need for a clearing house of this sort is illustrated by a difficulty experienced by the College of Ag- riculture L i b r a r y in Nebraska. O n e of our principal interests there is soil science. Be- cause of this one of our research men who reads Russian is particularly interested in the Russian magazine Pedology (Pochvove- denie). W e have not, however, received this journal since 1947. Inquiries have been sent to Russia on two occasions asking about Pedology but there has been no reply in either case. W e send the Nebraska Ag- ricultural Experiment Station material to 22 addresses in the Soviet Union and have been receiving currently several publications f r o m that c o u n t r y — b u t not the publication in which we are most interested. A central exchange agency, with its contacts abroad and greater inflence, could possibly straighten this matter out for us. U n f o r t u - nately the present international situation makes even this possibility rather d o u b t f u l . 2. M a i n t a i n a list of foreign agricultural institutions containing descriptive notes about their publications which are available for exchange. 3. Distribute duplicates of foreign agri- cultural publications received by the U . S . D . A . Library and other large research libraries. A depository library for each re- gion, designated by the interested libraries themselves, would be a possible solution. A distribution based on subject interest might also be feasible. T h i s was done by the Co- operative Acquisition Project. Ralph Shaw and L u t h e r Evans both spoke of this prob- lem at the conference at Princeton. D r . Evans stated that "many documents are received in more than one copy, but the L i b r a r y of Congress has no pattern for their distribution and would like to see one de- veloped."1 5 M r . Shaw spoke of the need to help the states in their document acquisi- tion and exchange programs and remarked that the U . S . D . A . Library occasionally re- ceives multiple copies of foreign journals with a request that it help to establish ex- changes. H e observed that there should be a group representing state and private institutions to determine how such items should be distributed.1 6 If it is felt an exchange agency is not feasible, an alternative would be to appoint committees of agricultural librarians w h o could give aid and advice to organizations that are in a position to do something about these questions. For instance we can en- courage and offer our help to D r . M a c y ' s committee in the hope that its projected list of foreign agricultural institutions can be completed in the near f u t u r e . W e might also ask the Library of the Food and Ag- riculture Organization or the U . S . D . A . Li- brary to carry on in the footsteps of the International Institute of Agriculture and give us a new edition of the International (Continued on page 53) 1 5 W i l l i a m s , op. cit., p. 77. ™Ibid., p. 82. 46 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES a n x i o u s t o c o o p e r a t e w i t h t h e i r c u s t o m e r s , t h e l i b r a r i e s . T h e h e a d of a t e c h n i c a l s e r v - ices d e p a r t m e n t is in a g o o d p o s i t i o n t o s m o o t h t h e p a t h t o w a r d b e t t e r r e l a t i o n s in t h i s s p h e r e . If h e k n o w s h i s w o r k , h e is c o n v e r s a n t w i t h t h e p r o b l e m s of t h e o r d e r d i v i s i o n , t h e c a t a l o g e r s , t h e s e r i a l r e c o r d s s t a f f a n d t h e p e o p l e p r e p a r i n g m a t e r i a l f o r b i n d i n g . W i t h t h i s k n o w l e d g e , h e is b e t t e r p r e p a r e d t o p r e s e n t t h e o v e r - a l l p r o b l e m s of t h e l i b r a r y t o t h e d e a l e r a n d t o w o r k o u t m e a n s of c o o p e r a t i o n w i t h h i m . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d t h e r e a r e t h e f a c u l t y a n d t h e s t u d e n t b o d y . I n his r e l a t i o n s w i t h t h e m t h e t e c h n i c a l s e r v i c e s s p e c i a l i s t is a b l e t o b r i n g a b o u t b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g b y d e v e l - o p i n g w a y s a n d m e a n s of g e t t i n g t h e m a - t e r i a l s t h e y n e e d i n t o t h e l i b r a r y m o r e q u i c k l y , a n d of c a t a l o g i n g a n d c l a s s i f y i n g t h e m m o r e s a t i s f a c t o r i l y . T h e r e s u l t i n g s a t i s f a c t i o n w i l l p a y l a r g e d i v i d e n d s . T h e s e a r e o n l y s o m e of t h e n u m e r o u s d e v i c e s w h i c h c a n be u t i l i z e d in a t e c h n i c a l s e r v i c e s d e p a r t m e n t t o s t r e a m l i n e a n d i m - p r o v e o p e r a t i o n s . M o r e c a n be f o u n d , a n d in t h e d i s c o v e r y a n d a p p l i c a t i o n of t h e s e t h e s p e c i a l i s t i n t h i s f i e l d w i l l f i n d a c o n - s t a n t c h a l l e n g e a n d a r e w a r d i n g s a t i s f a c t i o n . T h i s is n o t a s t a t i c f i e l d , b u t a c o n s t a n t l y c h a n g i n g o n e , w h i c h o f f e r s g r e a t p o s s i b i l i - t i e s t o t h e a d v e n t u r o u s . L i f e is n e v e r d u l l , a n d t h e p e r s o n e n t e r i n g t h i s f i e l d c a n e x p e c t t o e n j o y h i s w o r k w h i l e h e l p i n g t o i m p r o v e l i b r a r y t e c h n i q u e . Agricultural Research and the Exchange Problem (Continued from page 46) Directory of Agricultural Libraries and of Libraries Specialized in Subjects Related to Agriculture ( R o m e , T h e I n s t i t u t e , 1 9 3 9 . 3 1 1 p . ) R e v i s i o n s of o t h e r l i s t s i s s u e d by t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l I n s t i t u t e of A g r i c u l t u r e , s u c h as t h e International Directory of Ani- mal Husbandry Institutions ( R o m e , 1 9 3 3 . 322p.), t h e International Directory of Ag- ricultural Engineering Institutions ( R o m e , !939- I52p.)> t h e International Directory of Dairying Institutions ( R o m e , I 9 3 4 - 4 5 ° P - ) > t h e International Directory of Ag- ricultural Experimental Institutions in Hot Countries ( R o m e , 1 9 3 4 . 5 6 3 P . ) , a n d In- stitutions Agricoles dan les Pays Tem- peres ( R o m e , 1 9 3 3 . 3 o 6 p . ) , w o u l d a l s o be of g r e a t v a l u e . W e c o u l d c e r t a i n l y a t t a c k , t h r o u g h r e g i o n a l c o m m i t t e e s , t h e q u e s t i o n of w h i c h l i b r a r i e s w e r e t o b e d e s i g n a t e d as d e p o s i t o r i e s f o r d u p l i c a t e s of f o r e i g n a g r i - c u l t u r a l m a t e r i a l r e c e i v e d by t h e l a r g e r r e - s e a r c h l i b r a r i e s . I n a n y case I p r o p o s e t h a t w e a t t e m p t t o d o s o m e t h i n g c o n c r e t e a b o u t t h e f o r e i g n e x c h a n g e s i t u a t i o n . If e n o u g h i n t e r e s t is a r o u s e d I see n o r e a s o n w h y a d e c i s i o n in f a v o r of d e c i s i v e a c t i o n c a n n o t be r e a c h e d a t t h e n a t i o n a l m e e t i n g of t h e A . L . A . i n J u l y 1 9 5 0 . JANUARY, 1950 * 53