Memorandum 1496

United States Department of Agriculture
Office of the Secretary
Washington 25, D.C.

March 23, 1962
Secretary's Memorandum No. 1496

The National Agricultural Library

The Organic Act of 1862, establishing the Department of Agriculture, sets forth a basic mission "to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of the word," and places upon the Department the duty of acquiring and preserving all information concerning agriculture.

Beginning with the one thousand volumes transferred from the Patent Office in 1862, the library collection has grown to over one million volumes during this one hundred years. Today the Library of the Department of Agriculture is, next to the Library of Congress, the largest Government library in existence. The information contained in the collection is disseminated through bibliographies, loans, photocopies and reference services to agricultural colleges and universities, research institutions, Government agencies, agricultural associations, industry, individual scientists, farmers and ranchers, and the general public in the United States and in every part of the world.

From the date of its inception the Library of the Department of Agriculture has served as a national library, and is generally considered today as the national agricultural library. It is appropriate and fitting, therefore, as we observe the centennial of the founding of the Department, that the national scope of its collection and services be recognized in its name.

Accordingly, the Library of the Department of Agriculture is hereby designated, and shall be known as, the National Agricultural Library.

Orville L. Freeman
Secretary

Transcribed by CB on 7 June 2012 from a copy of the Memorandum held by NAL's Special Collections.