From: The SUPERINTENDENT of the READING ROOM. FEBRUARY 11, 1935. Referring to: Analysis of force of reading room when at its peak on a busy weekday. Sometime ago the Librarian expressed a desire to see an analysis of the force of the reading room when at its peak on a busy weekday. Here it is at about 12 noon on a day while Congress is in session: Service to Congress and Committees and the White House Congressional order unit (during peak, orders from Senators and Members number as high as 1 in every 2 minutes): $2,000 Book rooms: Senate, new and old House 3 SP 4, each. 2 SP 2, each. 1 SP 3.. Capitol station: 1 P 3. 1 SP 5. Document assistant gal lery: 1 SP 4.. Service to Congress and committees and the White House-Continued Dr. PUTNAM. A visitor knowing these figures may say, "I have been in that reading room, but I did not see any 67 people there. What are they doing?" There are 36 decks in the stacks; there are 22 different points or features of the work that have to be covered by those 67 people. There is a station here at the Capitol. There is a service to and from the House Office Buildings and the Senate Office Building. There is a Representatives' reading room over there, and a number of study rooms that have to be served. There is the service to the Executive Departments, and there are other types of service involved. Here is a sample of the kind of requests that come in from these emergency units: There are over 70 of these making demands upon us day after day, with long lists of books that have to be looked up, identified, and furnished. A whole group has to be devoted to it, and the increase of demand, I think, has been 40 percent in the past 2 or 3 years. The justification submitted in support of the request for the main reading room is as follows: Subprofessional 2: 1 deck attendant at.. The need for the above is due $1,260 1, 200 2, 460 1. To the increase in the collections (numbering now over 5,000,000 volumes and increasing at the rate of 175,000 per annum) and also the increased spread of them, a million and a half volumes being in spaces not reached by the book carriers. 2. To the present congestion which requires many thousands of books to be shelved behind others, impeding access, or in the cellars. It requires also the frequent shifting of large groups under special pressure. 3. To the increased demand by Congress and the public. The latter includes the service of books to the study rooms and other remote points for the use of serious investigators, and response to incessant demands from the multiplying agencies of the Government. 4. To the need of more systematic checking of the shelves, more constant inventories, and perfection of the deck catalogues. 5. To the need of speeding up the messenger service to the Senate and House Office Buildings, delays in which are now the cause of much complaint. RARE-BOOK ROOM Mr. SNYDER. Next is the rare-book room. Dr. PUTNAM. There, again, we have the same difficulty to render the proper service with the present staff. (The justification submitted in support of this item is as follows:) Subprofessional 2: 1 assistant at.... $1,260 This position is to aid in safeguarding the collection and the use of it. The new rare-book equipment has been taken advantage of by students to such an extent that the increase of readers for the first 6 months of the fiscal year 1935 was 94.78 percent over the same period of 1933, the last year in the old quarters. The increase in the use of books for the same period is 101.26 percent. With only one messenger it is impossible to take care of the daily routine such as the filing of cards and the making of dummies for new accessions. Service to the readers makes it imperative that such work be done promptly. Mr. LUDLOW. How many employees do you have in the Rare-Book Division now? Dr. PUTNAM. Seven, to cover the day up to 6 o'clock at night. SEMITIC DIVISION Mr. SNYDER. Then there is the Semitic Division. Dr. PUTNAM. They have only the man in charge and the one assistant, and when the one assistant is ill or out of the room there is no subordinate service there. (The justification submitted in support of this item is as follows:) Subprofessional 5: 1 assistant at.. $1,800 The collections of Hebraica, Yiddish, Judaica, Aramaica, Arabica, and cognate linguistic groups are steadily growing, and their use by scholars and investigators is now much greater than it was a few years ago; also the correspondence involved. The routine duties (which involve the cataloging of current Semitic books entering the Library, the assignment and development of subject headings, the reading of proof for entries in Semitic languages, and assisting other divisions in the "processing" of this material) performed with a staff of only one assistant allow little time for work on the bulk of the collections. This request is for a second one. SMITHSONIAN DIVISION Mr. SNYDER. Next is the Smithsonian Division. Dr. PUTNAM. There is a similar consideration there. (The justification submitted in support of this item is as follows:) Custodial 3: 1 messenger at- - - -. $1, 200 The present staff consists of but four assistants including the Division Chief and evening assistant. With increasing demands upon the Division, a messenger is very necessary. The demands upon the Division have increased approximately 30 percent in the past 2 years. REALLOCATIONS OF POSITIONS Dr. PUTNAM. Next you come to the reallocations. Mr. SNYDER. Since these reallocations are coming before us every year, to what extent will this complete it, and how much longer is this going to continue on this same level? Dr. PUTNAM. Well, of course, these reallocations are distinct from advances within the grades. If we brought up the force to the average of the grade, we would have to have $85,000 more, but these are reallocations in positions because the present grade does not conform to the duties ascertained by a survey and adjudication; and they are mandatory under the law; we cannot avoid them. Mr. SNYDER. How much of this survey is completed? Dr. PUTNAM. It is mostly completed. The surveys completed include the largest divisions of the Library, and only a few of the smaller ones remain. I doubt if there will be from those a very appreciable additional set of reallocations. I think this $23,000 would fairly bring it up, do you not, Mr. Boyd? Mr. BOYD. They have to complete some in the Copyright Office. Dr. PUTNAM. But that is self-sustaining. Mr. SNYDER. I wish that you would insert in the record here the approximate complete cost of these reallocations. Mr. BOYD. How many reallocations there have been? Mr. SNYDER. Yes. Dr. PUTNAM. And the cost to date, but we can only guess at what is to be apprehended. (The statement referred to is as follows:) REALLOCATIONS TO DATE (EXCLUDING BUILDING FORCE) (NOTE. The initial classification of our service (in 1924) was not based on a systematic study of it. The Classification Board was then too busy with the executive departments. It contented itself, therefore, with a tentative assignment to our staff of grades in the clerical service. Immediately after July 1, 1934 corrections were found essential involving 110 positions, and within a year 34 more. Those corrections, involving in all 144 positions, account for $48,680 of the $118,120 noted below as expended to date for so-called reallocations. they do not represent revisions of grades which had been established after a deliberate survey and study. Since then such a survey has proceeded and is nearing its close.) Yet 1 $27, 760 Appropriated for reallocations, 1925-36, as of Feb. 21, 1936 Library proper: 1925-26 (76) Legislative reference- -Continued. 1926-27 (29) 1 7, 220 1932-33 (1) 800 1 Corrections rather than reallocations. (See note, supra.) 2 $3,740 requested but not granted. 3 $10,840 (including $3,740 for 1933-34) requested but not granted. * Including $10,840 not granted 1933-34, 1934-35. $60 requested but not granted. 6 $60 again requested but not granted. 7 Including $60 not granted 1933-34, 1934-35. 8 $800 requested but not granted. Requested in 1933-34 and 1934-35 but not granted. 1081,340 requested but not granted. 11 $1,540 (including $1,340 for 1933-34) requested but not granted. 12 Requested in 1934-35 (including $1,340 for 1933-34) but not granted. 13 See introductory note. $84, 820 15, 960 9, 360 180 7,800 13118, 120 Dr. PUTNAM. The justification submitted in support of this item is as follows: Reallocations: In accordance with the result of surveys by Personnel Classification Division of the Civil Service Commission, $20,240; authorized by Civil Service Commission in divisions not yet surveyed, $2,880; total $23,120. From time to time, since 1923, individual appeals by employees for reallocation have been submitted and approved by the Personnel Classification Board, now the Personnel Classification Division of the Civil Service Commission. |