Library Report

Baker Memorial Library added 15,808 volumes during the past academic year, bringing the total number of books in the Dartmouth library to 418,189, it was announced by Professor Frank M. Anderson, chairman of the faculty library committee, at the October meeting of the faculty. These acquisitions represent a gain of 165 volumes over the number added to the library the preceding year.

Although somewhat lower than that of the year before, the circulation figure of 310,699 was described by Professor Anderson as "gratifyingly large." A slight increase at the reserve desk was offset by the decrease at the main circulation desk. One interesting and encouraging detail was the large increase in the number of books drawn by students for use during vacations, that figure more than tripling from 442 to 1515. None of the general circulation decrease was attributable to the faculty, Professor Anderson explained.

Gifts of books and manuscripts nearly maintained the level reached in the preceding year, 1939 volumes being received in 1935-36 as compared to 2005 in 1934-35. Among the gifts were a collection of 80 books and pamphlets on Mayan civilization presented by Victor M. Cutter '03; a group of 395 books and pamphlets on psychiatry from the estate of the late Walter B. Wolfe '21; letters and diaries of David Peabody, of the Class of 1828, presented by the widow of the late Charles Albert Perkins '90 and her son, Albert R. Perkins '25; a collection of Richard Hovey manuscripts presented by Edwin O. Grover '94 and the late Arthur L. Livermore '88; the manuscript of his novel Honeyflow from Ben Ames Williams '10; and manuscripts of some of their published volumes from Professors Eric P. Kelly '06, Herbert F. West '22, and Francois Denoeu.

CROMWELL BIBLE ACQUIRED

Important acquisitions during the past year, Professor Anderson reported, included a Cromwell Bible published in 1539; a nearly complete set of The Astrographic Catalogue of the Heavens, seldom available; a collection of 1400 items on the Middle Ages, built up by the late Professor Otto Cartellieri of Heidelburg and his mentor, Professor Scheffer-Boicherst of the University of Berlin, a number of the items being the only copies available on this side of the Atlantic; a number of scientific sets, including the Annates d'Oculistique in 75 volumes, the Proceedings of the ZoologicalSociety of London in 110 volumes, the British Museum Catalogue of Birds in 27 volumes, and Science Progress in theTwentieth Century, volumes 6 to 30; and a number of large sets of interest to specialists in several fields. A notable addition to the newspaper files was a run of The NewYork Times from January, 1861, to July, 1863.

Professor Anderson's report on the periodical department of the library disclosed that Baker Library now receives 1448 current publications. Of these 17 are daily newspapers, 91 weeklies, 399 monthlies, 320 quarterlies, and 621 appearing at other or irregular intervals. Exactly a thousand of them are in English, while 299 are in German, 123 in French, 35 in Italian, 25 in Spanish, and 36 in other languages. Other classification shows that 831 are technical, 348 semi-technical, and 269 general. On the basis of Dartmouth's faculty Divisions, 489 are primarily of interest to the Division of the Sciences, 348 to the Division of the Social Sciences, and 352 to the Division of the Humanities.

OVER $10,000 SPENT ON PERIODICALS

The annual cost to the Library for periodical subscriptions is $10,490.82. Over 250 subscriptions come as gifts, nearly all of them American publications. The rag paper edition of The New York Times at $170 a year is one of the most expensive subscriptions carried by the library. An additional $3000 a year is spent on bindings for periodicals.

The total stack capacity at the present time is 435,000 volumes, Professor Anderson reported. This space, recently increased by the erection of stacks on the top three levels of the west wing, will probably be sufficient for the next five years.

Professor Anderson also reported that the memorial bookplate honoring Edwin Webster Sanborn '78, donor of the Sanborn Library Fund of a million dollars, had been completed and would be placed in all books purchased with proceeds from the Sanborn Fund. The bookplate was designed by Mahonri Young.