College and Research Libraries The Smithsonian Institution Libraries: Afoot in Three Camps Nancy E. Gwinn The origin of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) is rooted in the founding charter of the institution, but collection development has been substantially affected by the libraries' posi- tion within a museum context. SIL operates within three "camps," or environments, simultaneously-museums, research libraries, and special libraries-and utilizes policies an~ practices that contain elements of each. SIL has internally adopted the nomenclature that ap- plies to management of museum object collections and capitalized on allied interests in such areas as preservation. Ironically, SIL must often assert and defend its role as a "collector" to ensure inclusion in Smithsonian funding programs. ince I joined the Smithsonian four years ago, I don't know how many times I have heard "I didn't know the Smithso- nian had a library!" Nevertheless, I have come to understand this invisibility and also to regard the Smithsonian Institution Libraries as one of Washington's best- kept secrets. This article lifts the veil and provides a glimpse of what library life is like behind the scenes at the Smithsonian, within the framework of collection devel- opment and preservation activities. I have been asked to answer certain questions in this article, such as: (1) What are the demands of the curatorial staff? (2) How do we meet them? (3) Do the pur- poses of the Smithsonian museums con- flict with our duties as librarians? (4) Have either the museums or the libraries changed policies or procedures in light of these differences or because we've learned from one another? I am inclined to answer somewhat facetiously: (1) instant access, immediate delivery, indefinite loan; (2) with difficulty and ease; (3) purposes-no; cross-purposes-yes; (4) yes and no-and go home. However, if I have learned one lesson, it is never to make a generalization about how we, or anyone else in the Smithsonian, operate. But this heterogeneity is also what makes talking about the Smithsonian fascinating and worthy of attention. SMITHSONIAN ORIGINS To understand the answers to these questions, we must place them within the context of a brief historical overview of the development of the Institution and its li- brary collections. James Smithson, illegiti- mate son of the Duke of Northumberland, was born in 1765. Educated at Pembroke, he became a natural scientist and fellow of the Royal Society. His twenty-seven pub- lished papers are reported to contain 11 a wide range of research, from the origin of the earth, the nature of the colors of the Nancy E. Gwinn is Assistant Director, Collections Management, at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D. C. 20560. This article was adapted from a presentation given at the ACRL Rare Books and Manu- scripts Preconference, "Libraries and Museums: Leaves from Each Others' Books," July 6, 1988, in New Or- leans, Louisiana. 206 vegetables and insects, the analysis of minerals and chemicals, to an improved method of constructing lamps or of mak- ing coffee." 1 In 1829 Smithson died, leav- ing his estate to his nephew, then unmar- ried, and to any of the nephew's children, legitimate or otherwise. But his will, in a truly remarkable bequest, stipulated that should the nephew die without leaving heirs, the whole of the property was to go "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowl- edge among men. " 2 Nobody knows why Smithson, who never visited America, did this, but in a true fairy-tale ending, the nephew died heirless, and a half-million dollars came to the United States. Congressional wrangling over accep- tance of the bequest followed, but in due course Congress passed an act in 1846 that established the Institution and its Board of Regents; outlined the duties of the Secre- tary; transferred to it all federally owned objects of art, natural history, etc.; estab- lished and authorized funds for "the gradual formation of a library''; and di- rected that both this library and the Li- brary of Congress receive one copy of all copyrighted publications. Joseph Henry was selected as Secretary, and he hired two extremely competent leaders as his assistants: Charles Coffin Jewett to estab- lish the library and Spencer Fullerton Baird to, among other things, organize a museum and art gallery. The Library of Congress was at this time a struggling, inadequately housed collec- tion located in the U.S. Capitol building. It is easy to see that the groundwork was laid here for the Smithsonian to become eventually the nation's leading library. But this was not to be. The eternal triangle seemed to be at work in the personalities of these three eminent Type-A Victorian achievers. Firmly believing that Congress had misunderstood or ignored the intent of Smithson's bequest, Henry was com- mitted to promoting original research and publication of results over any other objec- tive. At least one slightly revisionist and definitely controversial study suggests that at first Jewett and Baird formed anal- Smithsonian Institution Libraries 207 Smithsonian Institution Archives James Smithson liance to thwart Henry's policies and di- rect a larger share of resources toward building both the library and a museum, but that eventually Jewett lost out to a Henry-Baird alliance. 3 Whatever the truth, a short chronology of events of the Smithsonian Institution Archives Joseph Henry 208 College & Research Libraries Smithsonian Institution Archives Charles Coffin Jewett next 100 years will provide background for a discussion of the nature of library collec- tions management in the Institution to- day. • 1854-Joseph Henry fires Charles Cof- fin Jewett over the strenuous objections of many members of Congress and .Smithsonian Institution Archives Spencer Fullerton Baird March 1989 other highly placed political supporters. • 1857 -Henry succeeds in having the Smithsonian removed from the copy- right deposit provision. • 1865-A fire destroys the roof, all the in- terior of the upper story of the main part of the Smithsonian Castle, and the inte- rior of three towers. • 1866-By congressional authority, the Smithsonian library (40,000 vols.) is re- moved to the new fireproof extension of the Library of Congress, to be housed separately and to become known as the Smithsonian Deposit. A small reference collection remains behind. • 1877 -Following the Philadelphia Cen- tennial Exposition, the best foreign and state exhibits are donated to the Smithsonian and loaded in sixty-six freight cars for the journey to Washing- ton. • 1881-Smithsonian Secretary Baird opens the new U.S. National Museum (today' s Arts & Industries Building) and establishes an official "National Mu- seum Library," donating to it his own extensive private library. In the words of one chronicler: In response to a special circular many of the museums and scientific societies of Europe and America contributed sets of their publi- cations, and new exchanges for the Muse- um's own publications were arranged. Sec- ond copies of many of the more important series received by the Institution for the Smithsonian Deposit were also obtained by exchanfe, and other material was pur- chased. • ca. 1887-Since it was apparent by this time that the Library of Congress, ''then filled to overflowing, could no longer care for any increase, and could not even render accessible what it already had on its shelves, [it] was accordingly found essential to care for at the Institu- tion those works which were most needed."5 • 1912-The bulk of the library is moved from the ''old'' National Museum to the "new" U.S. National Museum (now Natural History); Smithsonian books are now spread among at least thirty lo- cations, a situation that still pertains to- day. • 1952-Smithsonian Secretary Carmi- chael concludes an agreement with the Librarian of Congress to transfer the Smithsonian Deposit-by then grown to one million volumes-to the Library of Congress, which absorbs it into the LC stacks to form the nucleus of its great scientific collections. Smithsonian staff are to enjoy the same borrowing privi- leges as Members of Congress. • 1963-Book collections left behind in the Arts and Industries Building are moved to the new museum of history and tech- nology (now American History). • 1968-The National Portrait Gallery and National Collection of Fine Arts (now American Art) move out of the Natural History museum into their own quar- ters, taking their library books with them. Smithsonian Secretary Ripley ap- proves the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries under a single, centralized director, to manage the library resources of the Institution. 6 What this chronology clearly establishes is that researchers need books, they want them close at hand, and as soon as you give a library away, a new one begins to grow in its place. Given this brief history, what does the Institution, and its library system, look like today? ''Many persons who have visited Washington have some sense of the complexity of the Smithsonian, which is described in many colorful ways, including 'the nation's attic,' and 'the octopus on the Mall.'" Many persons who have visited Wash- ington have some sense of the complexity of the Smithsonian, which is described in many colorful ways, including "the na- tion's attic," and "the octopus on the Mall." One observer has described the In- stitution's organizational development in this way: One of the results of the Smithsonian's pench- ant to take on new jobs, to take up new lines of research, or to reactivate old ones has been a breakdown to some degree in its compartments Smithsonian Institution Libraries 209 of organization. Some of the new offices cre- ated seem to defy the logic of traditional organi- zation and make an organization chart look as if a hurricane had struck it. Organization devel- opment is not a straight line but a circle, whereon centralization follows on the heels of decentralization and vice versa. 7 The structure of the Smithsonian Institu- tion Libraries mirrors this centralized sys- tem of decentralized functions; its collec- tions are organized administratively into fourteen branches, but with at least three times that number of official physical loca- tions where collections are actually housed, including a remote storage site. Figure 1 shows where the SIL branches are distributed, and for the most part their locations are self-evident. Most are on or near the Mall in Washington, but four are outside, in Boston; New York; Edgewater, Md.; and the country of Panama. Without a separate library building (except in Pan- ama, where we have a new, air- conditioned, modern facility), SIL exists behind the scenes in nonpublic areas, which accounts for a good part of its invisi- bility. The collection totals just over one million volumes; the materials budget also hovers at the $1 million mark. All BRANCHES of the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LffiRARIES Central Reference and Loan Services Cooper-Hewitt Museum New York, New York Museum Reference Center Museum Support Center National Air and Space Museum National Museum of African Art National Museum of American History National Museum of Natural History National Zoological Park Office of Horticulture Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, Massachusetts Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Edgewater, Maryland Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Republic of Panama Special Collections FIGURE 1 210 College & Research Libraries branches, no matter where they are lo- cated, support all Smithsonian personnel. These facts-SIL' s collective size, its de- centralized structure, its location in a con- geries of museums and research organiza- tions with overlapping functions-place SIL both with a foot in three camps-sort of balanced precariously on a three-legged stool, if you like-and afoot in three camps-that is, in action, or operation, si- multaneously in all three. And what are the camps, or should we say, environments? Museums, research li- braries, and special libraries. The philoso- phies, principles, ways of thinking, and methodologies of each of these worlds in- fluence the activities and directions of the Smithsonan' s libraries at all levels. At dif- ferent times and in different situations, one or the other may predominate, and occasionally they conflict. But they also lead to SIL's own brand of creativity, in the same way that the Smithsonian's sta- tus as part federal, part private works to the Institution's benefit. And it certainly keeps the staff flexible! The balance of this article explores col- lection management and preservation is- sues as they relate to each of these envi- ronments. It isn't a particularly neat or well-defined picture. 11 A central issue for the Smithsonian, and perhaps for all libraries in muse- ums is simply: are library collections really collections?'' A QUESTION OF COLLECTIONS Let's take the first example. A central is- sue for the Smithsonian, and perhaps for all libraries in museums is simply: are li- brary collections really collections? That is, collections in the museum sense of the word. It is important to answer that ques- tion, for it has crucial fiscal impacts. For ' example, SIL was not included when the Institution went to Congress in 1978 for special funds to underwrite a massive in- ventory (known internally as ''The Great Count"). To inventory a collection prop- March 1989 erly, as you know, requires records of what you have, so this funding was im- portant to SIL as a way of supporting backlog cataloging and retrospective con- version. Secondly, in 1980 the Institution issued a policy mandating that certain Smithso- nian bureaus that have collections pro- duce a collections management policy. 8 The 1987 revision of this document listed fifteen museums and other units to which it applied, including places like the Office of Horticulture and the Smithsonian Fur- nishing Collections, but nowhere in this list appeared the libraries. Yet most of the functions covered in this document are performed by the libraries, even if the lexi- con used to describe them varies some- what from standard library terminology. We "accession" items (read "catalog"), "deaccession" them (read "withdraw"), and "dispose" of them (read "discard"); we have "incoming" and "outgoing" (read "interlibrary") loans, as well as ex- hibition loans, the procedures for which exactly match the museum's; we acquire items by gift and purchase, care for, store, and conserve our collections, and fuss about insurance. And we do much of this more frequently than most of the other bu- reaus. Yet a third example is embodied in a program called the Collections Acquisi- tions Program, in which the Institution sets aside from its unrestricted trust funds several million dollars over a five-year pe- riod to support the purchase of very costly items or collections and to allow for quick movement when opportunities arise. Again, the list of Smithsonian units eligi- ble for the funds included museums, but not the libraries. Yet if SIL is to add signifi- cantly to its rare book holdings or to pur- chase large collections, access to such funds is essential. Happily, SIL has had some success in correcting these oversights. Congress eventually supplied the missing inventory funds, and SIL is well on the way to clean- ing up its backlogs. The newly hired Smithsonian Registrar has begun a major overhaul of the Institution's collections policies with SIL participation. Finally, a recent revision of the Collections Acquisi- tions Program sets aside part of the funds in a pool to which a number of nonmu- seum units may apply, including SIL. Functioning in the Smithsonian's mu- seum environment definitely affects SIL' s strategy: to compete successfully, the li- braries' role as a collector must be taken seriously throughout the Institution. Yet library collections are not museum collections. With the obvious exception of some of SIL' s special collections, they are not composed of individually unique ob- jects. Library administrators in museums must guard against building such strong alliances with museum processes that they lose the flexibility of managing collec- tions like responsible, professional librari- ans, constantly fine-tuning the holdings to meet the Institution's research and infor- mation needs. IN THE MUSEUM CAMP The Smithsonian's library used to as- sign accession numbers to every incoming item; this procedure was halted long ago. Provenance is critical for museum objects but is unimportant for the bulk of our gen- eral collections. Our methods of biblio- graphic control and data sharing are far ahead of museum processes; but our problems may have been easier to solve. Certainly they pale into insignificance when set beside the need to etch accession numbers into every bone of bird' s skele- ton, or the fact that there are 300,000 ro- dents that haven't been cataloged yet (perhaps as many as 1,000 mice in a single case!). A museum cannot count on an- other museum to catalog an identical spec- imen, and then borrow and adapt the rec- ord. Both need ready access to information about what they have; but only libraries have been able to capitalize on the cost-effective sharing of data, which is largely responsible for the high level of access to collections libraries enjoy. But if we are ahead of museums in terms of ac- cess to collections, we have much to learn from them in terms of physical security and documentation, especially as it ap- plies to handling of rare and valuable vol- umes, interactions with donors, the poli- tics of cultivating gifts, or deaccessioning unwanted items. Smithsonian Institution Libraries 211 To get back to one of the original ques- tions, curatorial or other research staff de- mands on the libraries are not that much different from what university faculty de- mand. They want materials when they want them and for however long they want them. They want to download the results of bibliographic online searches and to borrow every item cited. SIL strives hard to supply the resources, just as any academic library does, and struggles in the same way when one user wants the same book that has been loaned to an- other. A major problem is that we are forced to house large portions of the collec- tions in departmental spaces, which re- duces our ability to govern the collections as efficiently as we would like. For the most part, SIL does not have to cope with a high level of undergraduate student demand. This is not to say that there are no students. The Smithsonian gives out over a million dollars in fellow- ship and grant funds every year, which support a wide variety of predoctoral stu- dents, postdoctoral research fellows, in- terns, and other transient affiliated staff who use SIL's services. In addition, some museums have combined degree program affiliations, such as the master's degree awarded by the Parson's School of Design with the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, or other arrangements, such as exist be- tween the Tropical Research Institute and the University of Panama, which entail use of library resources by classes of stu- dents. By and large, however, SIL is able to control this use and to safeguard its re- sources when necessary. AS A RESEARCH LIBRARY Bringing up the subject of students moves us from the museum camp to the academic milieu, into the world of re- search libraries. Here one finds SIL func- tioning somewhat schizophrenically. On the one hand, looking at the collections as a whole, SIL covers a broad spectrum of disciplines, with wide-ranging historical collections in a number of fields, specifi- cally natural history (with an emphasis on taxonomy and anthropology}, history of science and technology (with an emphasis on America}, decorative arts and design, 212 College & Research Libraries African art, aeronautics, astrophysics, and conservation science. We are con- stantly adding older, retrospective works-particularly nineteenth-century- to the collections, in part still filling in those gaps left by the move of the Smithsonian Deposit 122 years ago, and some branches are taking on archives and other special format materials as well, adding, of course, to their Institutional dispersion. SIL staff constantly identify rare materials in the general collections and transfer them to special collections lo- cations, where there is better environmen- tal control and physical security. SIL units are connected internally by an online catalog, with terminals in every branch and location, and nationally to OCLC, which displays one holding sym- bol for the Smithsonian (SMII) (although the books themselves may be anywhere from Boston to Washington to Panama!). Branch staff make selection and deacces- sion decisions based on what is held across the system, attempting to keep du- plication to a minimum. Serials inflation is hurting us badly. We have developed ap- proval plan profiles and are experiment- ing with a vendor notification program. A self-study team conducted a preservation survey, with a modest preservation micro- filming program as one result. In short, SIL is moving in the same direction as most research libraries, and applying sim- ilar programs and principles. 11 • •• the SI Libraries has been under- going binary fission (to borrow a bio- logical term), an amoeba-like split- ting that mirrors the idiosyncratic division of the Smithsonian into its panoply of museums, offices, and bureaus." The Smithsonian Libraries shares a con- tinuity of development and age compara- ble to the major research libraries of the country; yet as the chronology clearly shows, while most of these libraries have been consolidating collections and build- March 1989 ing large, centralized facilities, the 51 Li- braries has been undergoing binary fis- sion (to borrow a biological term), an amoeba-like splitting that mirrors the idio- syncratic division of the Smithsonian into its panoply of museums, offices, and bu- reaus. According to the Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, amoebas ''constantly change their body shape as they form temporary extensions, or false feet, used for feeding and locomotion."9 Our "extensions" -or branch libraries and sublocations-are cer- tainly not temporary, but they do provide locomotion and may cause SIL' s "body shape" to appear to the outside world like a federation of special libraries. AS A SPECIAL LIBRARY So, like a chameleon, the appearance of the libraries changes if viewed from a dif- ferent angle against a different back- ground. The Museum Reference Center, a branch devoted to providing information about information on museums and mu- seology to an international constituency, and branches in the Office of Horticulture, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observa- tory, and the Tropical Research Institute, with their narrowly defined subject collec- tions, clearly function as special libraries. SIL has only recently begun to move away from almost total dependence on curators for selection decisions to assuming re- sponsibility for anticipating future needs and filling in gaps between curatorial spe- cialties. As collections continue to grow, as library management continues to fol- low the paths laid out, and as the staff as- sume more and more of a systemwide view, our special library coloration may begin to fade. BOOK PRESERVATION IN A MUSEUM ENVIRONMENT The topic of preservation brings us full cir- cle back into the museum world, but within that context trying to raise aware- ness and make visible a research library problem. It is not hard to sell the idea of conservation within a museum complex, especially one that considers itself to have national and international missions. Ten years ago, the libraries experienced no objections to the establishment of a Book Conservation Laboratory. After all, there were already eight conservation lab- oratories in the Smithsonian, in addition to a Conservation Analytical Laboratory. Several of the laboratories are concerned with paper or works of art on paper, but no laboratory was concerned specifically with books. At least part of the stimulus for the establishment of this laboratory lay in the desire to ensure that the SIL materi- als are exhibited successfully and without serious damage. A substantial portion of the laboratory's work entails preparing books to withstand the rigors of exhibit, taking apart books so that plates can be ex- hibited individually, checking exhibit in- stallations,_ monitoring exhibit conditions, and reviewing facilities reports. At about the same time that the labora- tory was established, SIL received from Dr. Bern Dibner its most significant gift of scientific rare books and manuscripts, the nucleus for our Dibner Library of the His- tory of Science and Technology. Today there are at least 30,000 volumes housed in SIL' s various special collections facilities, many of which require conservation work. However, if SIL had not existed in a mu- seum environment, it might not have be- gun its preservation program with such an emphasis on the artifactual. And a theoretical/ administrative acceptance of the need for conservation does not neces- sarily mean that Smithsonian staff handle books with any greater care, nor are they necessarily more aware of the preserva- tion challenges inherent in a growing number of brittle books. SIL was already painfully aware of the deterioration of its collections when I ar- rived in 1984 and used standard tech- niques for slowly enhancing and redirect- ing its preservation resources. In 1985, the libraries embarked on a year-long Preser- vation Planning Program, one of the ten institutions selected to engage in this ef- fort by the Association of Research Li- braries. Our results were much in line with those of other libraries, as seen in ta- ble 1: brittleness shows up in over 30 per- cent of our collection, with other kinds of problems less pervasive but often equally serious. 10 The impact of this information, Smithsonian Institution Libraries 213 TABLE 1 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LffiRARIES PRESERVATION SURVEY, 1986: MOST SERIOUS PHYSICAL PROBLEMS Problem Brittleness Red Rot Detached covers Detached pages Pages stuc1< together Missing spines Missing covers Mold/ritildew %of Sample* 30.4 6.6 2.8 2.7 2.6 .9 .6 .2 *Sample - 1,088 volumes. 304,000 66,000 28,000 27,000 26,000 9,000 6,000 2,000 combined with the momentum of the planning process, has allowed us to move in several ways to increase the preserva- tion attention given to our general collec- tions. But to make a significant impact will require increased funding. It is not surprising that a large propor- tion of SIL volumes are heavily illustrated, given the major emphasis of Smithsonian research on systematics and taxonomy, which requires reference to illustrations of species; materials culture, which requires identification and provenance of objects; and fine arts. One of the libraries' most important collections is its commercial cat- alogs, which currently number upwards of 150,000 pieces and which are being ag- gressively developed. The 1925 "back-to- school'' publication from Marshall Field, the advertisements at the beginning and end of yellowing railroad timetables, wall- paper and textile sample books, plans for the layout of the midway at numerous world's fairs: all are primary grist for the Smithsonian's research mill and present preservation challenges. For in selecting appropriate methods of preservation, SIL must be constantly aware of the exhibition potential of even the most ordinary book r journal .. Currently SIL has boxed and stored, for example, a year's worth of issues of the tabloid-sized Computerworld. Why? Be- cause we routinely discard it in favor of microfilm; because many, many libraries do the same thing; and because the Na- tional Museum of American History has 214 College & Research Libraries asked us to do so in case the issues are needed for the museum's forthcoming ex- hibit entitled the Information Revolution. This kind of consideration mandates a more conservative approach to our preser- vation decisions than may be necessary or desirable elsewhere. And we must again retain our perspective within the Institu- tion. SIL can count on other libraries' pre- serving many items that it will need; SIL can probably count on sympathy for its preservation needs and on a certain level of support. But the Smithsonian must also worry about the stretching fabric in the in- augural ball gowns of the First Ladies, on replacing the formaldehyde in jars on miles of shelves, on finding those 1,000 mice in the drawer when it becomes possi- ble to catalog them, and on housing the Space Shuttle. We will need to be creative to compete successfully for major book preservation support in the context of the large-scale needs of the entire Institution. I would like to close on a realistic note about our role, and the role of most li- braries, whether within universities, mu- seums, companies or other organizations. Certainly in any knowledge-producing, educational environment, libraries are of- ten referred to as the heart of the organiza- tion. A much more apt metaphor can be found in Robertson Davies' novel Fifth March 1989 Business. In speaking to the protagonist, Dunstan Ramsey, a female character named Leisl says: "Who are you? Where do you fit into poetry and myth? Do you know who I think you are, Ramsey? I think you are Fifth Business. You don't know what that is? Well, in opera in a permanent company of the kind we keep up in Europe you must have a prima donna- always a soprano, always the heroine, often a fool; and a tenor who always plays the lover to her; and then you must have a contralto, who is a rival to the soprano, or a sorceress or some- thing; and a basso, who is the villain or the rival or whatever threatens the tenor. So far so good. But you cannot make a plot work without another man, and he is usually a baritone, and he is called in the profession Fifth Business, because he is the odd man out, the person who has no opposite of the other sex. And you must have Fifth Business, because he is the one who knows the secret of the hero's birth, or comes to the assistance of the heroine when she thinks all is lost, or keeps the hermit- ess in her cell, or may even be the cause of somebody' s death if that is part of the plot. The prima donna and the tenor, the contralto and the basso, get all the best music and do all the spectacular things, but you cannot manage the plot without Fifth Business! It is not spectacular, but it is a good line of work, I can tell you, and those who play it sometimes have a career that outlasts the golden voices. Are xou Fifth Busi- ness? You had better find out." 1 REFERENCES AND NOTES 1. Paul H. Oehser, The Smithsonian Institution. 2d ed. (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1983), p.S. 2. Ibid., p.10. 3. JoelJ. Orosz, "Disloyalty, Dismissal, and a Deal: The Development of the National Museum at the Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1855," Museum Studies ]ournal2:22-33 (Spring 1986). 4. Leila F. Clark, "The Library of the Smithsonian Institution," Science 104:143-44 (Aug. 9, 1946). 5. Report of the Librarian of Congress for the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 1898. Senate Document 24, 55th Congress, 3d Session (Washington, D.C.: Govt. Print. Off., 1898), p.71. 6. SIL' s management of all library resources has never been fully implemented. The libraries of four Smithsonian art museums remain outside of the system. 7. Oehser, Smithsonian, p.187. 8. The Smithsonian uses the term "bureau" to denote major organizational divisions such as muse- ums, research institutes, and major support units. 9. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia (New York: Avon, 1983), p.27. 10. Final Report of the Preseroation Planning Program. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Li- braries, 1986), p.2. 11. Robertson Davies, Fifth Business (New York: Penguin, 1977 [c1970]), p.227.