ABSTRACT
The art of communicating scientific intelligence in Joseph Henry's day left much to be desired, and Henry saw the need for a speedy, worldwide exchange of information and the opportunity it offered for the Smithsonian to make a unique contribution. In most government agencies, publication is a subsidiary or regulatory function. Not so with the Smithsonian Institution, for it is committed to a publishing program to fulfill its mandate. A Smithsonian library dates from the Institution's founding; the original act made specific provisions for a library, and Charles Coffin Jewett was appointed librarian early in 1847. The library's initial objective was to procure a complete collection of the memoirs and transactions of learned societies throughout the world and an entire series of the most important and literary periodicals, and it succeeded to a large extent in accomplishing this task.
