By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the ; Philippine Legislature, that:

SECTION 1. Whenever, in the judgment of the Governor-, General the requirements of the efficiency and uniformity of the public service demand it, said Governor-General is hereby authorized, subject to the limitations and powers hereinafter specified, to direct that the Philippine Library, the division of the Executive Bureau known as "division of archives, patents, copyrights, and trade-marks," and the division of the Philippine Assembly known as the law and library division," be consolidated into one Bureau, to be known as the Philippine Library and Museum. Said Philippine Library and Museum shall be placed for administrative purposes under the control of the Secretary of Public Instruction except as otherwise provided in section five of this Act.

SEC. 2. The Philippine Library and Museum shall have a Director and such assistants as may be necessary and authorized by the Governor-General, all of whom shall be appointed by the Governor-General, by and with the consent of the Upper House of the Philippine Legislature, at such compensations as may be assigned to them, to be in force and effect until otherwise provided by the Philippine Legislature.

SEC. 3. The Philippine Library and Museum shall have the following powers, duties, functions and aims:

(a) The preservation, increase, extension in Manila and the provinces, and improvement of the present Philippine Library, so that it may respond to the growing needs of the culture and the people of the Philippine Islands;

(b) The organization, preservation, equipment, and maintenance of a special  administrative and legislative reference library, taking as basis the library of the Philippine Assembly and the law division of the Philippine Library, to be of aid to the several departments of the Government and especially to both Houses of the Philippine Legislature, their committees or members, in the consideration, preparation, and drafting of their bills;

(c) The acquisition, organization, preservation, administration, and increase, as the resources of the Treasury may allow, of a museum containing pictures, paintings, sculptures, portraits, photographs, maps, geographical charts, and all objects which, by reason of their archeological, artistic, scientific or commemorative value should be permanently preserved as a memento of, and out of veneration for the great men of the country, as a testimony of the national history and culture, or for the benefit of culture in general;

(d) The preparation, printing, and publication, or the printing, reprinting, and publication of prints, pamphlets, bibliographic catalogues, manuscripts, monographs, or any literary or scientific work deserving to be published in the interest of the Government, of the public welfare, of the history of the Philippines, or of science and art in general;

(e) The preservation, administration, classification, and registration of all public papers and documents of the Government, letters patent, copyrights, and trade-marks, and, in general, all functions, powers, and duties, at present vested in the division of archives, patents, copyrights, and trade-marks of the Executive Bureau;

(f) The organization of a system of filing, distributing, and exchanging publications and objects of art and natural history with such foreign countries as may wish to exchange such objects or publications.

SEC. 4. In case the Governor-General should decide to effect the consolidation herein prescribed, said Governor-General shall be authorized to direct all unexpended appropriations for salaries and wages and contingent expenses a of the Philippine Library, the Second Assistant Executive Secretary and the division of archives, patents, copyrights, and trade-marks of the Executive Bureau, and the law and library division of the Philippine Assembly, as well as the unexpended balances of the appropriations for printing, except those for the Diario de Sesiones and the Journal, and for the additional personnel appointed under Act Numbered Twenty-two hundred and ninety-two of said Philippine Assembly, to be placed at the disposal of and be available for expenditure by the Director of the Philippine Library and Museum for any and all of the purposes of this Act, as if such appropriations had been made for the Philippine Library and Museum. Said Governor-General is authorized, further, to direct that all the books, archives, papers, documents, furniture, shelving, filing cases, stationery, and other utensils, objects, and property of any kind of the Philippine Library, the division of archives, patents, copyrights, and trade-marks of the Executive Bureau, and the law and library division of the Philippine Assembly shall become the property and be destined to the use of the Philippine Library and Museum, and all the present powers, duties, obligations and functions of the Library Board and the Librarian, as regards the Philippine Library, of the Committee on Accounts and the Secretary of the Philippine Assembly, as regards the law and library division of said Philippine Assembly, and of the Executive Secretary and the chief of the division of archives, patents, copyrights, and trade-marks, as regards the said division shall be vested in and exercised by the Philippine Library and Museum.

SEC. 5. As soon as the Director of the Philippine Library and Museum has been appointed and the transfers provided for in this Act have been made, the Philippine Library, the division of archives of the Executive Bureau, and the law and library division of the Philippine Assembly shall be abolished and the Director of the Philippine Library B and Museum shall, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Public Instruction, organize his office, appoint the necessary personnel, and apportion the appropriations available as the necessities of the service may require. The present necessary personnel of the Philippine Library and the divisions consolidated shall be available for appointment to the Philippine Library and Museum.

SEC. 6. As soon as the Philippine Library and Museum is organized as herein authorized, the Governor-General a! shall be empowered to direct that the pictures, paintings, photographs, books, documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, monographs, maps, and all objects of artistic, historical, or scientific value of any kind, of any Bureau, Office, or dependency of the Government, which are not absolutely necessary for the work and current official use of the office, bureau, or dependency concerned, shall be transferred, with an inventory, to the Philippine Library and Museum, to be preserved and administered in the manner provided by this Act.

SEC. 7. It shall be the duty of all Departments, Bureaus, Offices, and dependencies of the Government, and all municipalities and provinces to furnish without charge to the Director of the Philippine Library and Museum all data or information that may be necessary for the performance of the duties prescribed by this Act and to send to said Philippine Library and Museum at least fifty copies of all printed reports or documents published relative to their official work. And the printing establishments of the country shall also be obliged to send without charge to the Philippine Library and Museum at least two copies of. each book, newspaper, or pamphlet printed or published by them, except in case of the registration of copyrights, in which the provisions of the law shall be complied with.

SEC. 8. All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 9. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

Enacted, February 4, 1916.