A Letter From The Publisher, Apr. 8, 1974

Before a TIME story goes to press, staffers attempt to verify every fact in it—a painstaking process that would be impossible without our reference library. Reporter-Researcher Sue Raffety, while checking this week's cover story on worldwide inflation, came across Writer James Grant's observation that the ancient Lydians invented metallic money. She called Head Research Librarian Harold Lateiner who, after finding three encyclopedias in conflict, confirmed the statement by consulting two major texts on the history of money. Elapsed time: 15 minutes.

Lateiner has been through this kind of thing before. He has been with the library since its birth in 1929 and...

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