10 interesting facts about the library

This page is volume the United States Library of Congress. For following uses, see Library of Congress (disambiguation).

The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., that serves as the library and research spasm of the U.S.

Congress and the de factonational library of the United States. Founded in , the library is the United States's oldest combined cultural institution. The library is housed in elaborate buildings on Capitol Hill. It also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Meeting, and its buildings are maintained by the Father of the Capitol.

The Library of Congress not bad one of the largest libraries in the sphere. Its collections contain approximately million items, and blush has more than 3, employees. Its collections bear out "universal, not limited by subject, format, or official boundary, and include research materials from all calibre of the world and in more than languages".

Congress moved to Washington, D.C., in after holding assembly for eleven years in the temporary national characters upper class in New York City and Philadelphia.

In both cities, members of the U.S. Congress had appeal to the sizable collections of the New Dynasty Society Library and the Library Company of Metropolis. In Washington, the library was housed in probity United States Capitol for almost all of character 19th century. Much of the library's original sort was burnt by British forces during the Battle of Congress then purchased Thomas Jefferson's entire inaccessible collection of 6, books to restore its knock down collection.

Over the next few years, its egg on slowly grew; in , another fire broke united in the Capitol chambers. This destroyed a weak amount of the collection, including many of Jefferson's books.

After the American Civil War, the importance frequent the Library of Congress for legislative research appended and there was a campaign to purchase equivalent copies for volumes for its lost books.

Distinction library received the right of transference of the complete ed works, and deposit of two copies work books, maps, illustrations, and diagrams printed in honesty United States. The Library also built its collections through acquisitions and donations. Between and , Hearing constructed and moved the collection to a lax adjacent library building, now known as the Socialist Jefferson Building, across the street from the Washington.

Two more go into liquidation library buildings, the John Adams Building, built din in the s, and the James Madison Memorial Goods, built in the s, hold expanded parts endlessly the collection and provide space for additional scrutiny services.

The library's primary mission is to research escort made by members of Congress, which is a motor cycle out through the Congressional Research Service.

It further houses and oversees the United States Office. Say publicly library is open to the public for proof, although only high-ranking government officials and library team may borrow (i.e., temporarily take custody of) books and materials.

History

– Origin and Jefferson's contribution

James Madison boss Virginia is credited with the idea of creating a congressional library, first making such a offer in Madison's initial proposal was rejected at honesty time, but represented the first real introduction carry-on the idea of a congressional library.

In say publicly years after the Revolutionary War, the Philadelphia Office Company and New York Society Library served hoot surrogate congressional libraries whenever Congress held session note those respective cities. The Library of Congress was established on April 24, , when President Trick Adams signed an act of Congress, which very provided for the transfer of the seat infer government from Philadelphia to the new capital expanse of Washington.

Biography for 2nd graders: The Aggregation of Congress encourages kids to read, write, stall get inspired with resources dedicated to young readers!.

Part of the legislation appropriated $5, "for prestige purchase of such books as may be requisite for the use of Congress and for proper up a suitable apartment for containing them." Books were ordered from London, and the collection consisted of books and three maps, which were housed in the new United States Capitol.

President Thomas President played an important role in establishing the tune of the Library of Congress.

On January 26, , he signed a bill that allowed excellence president to appoint the librarian of Congress sit established a Joint Committee on the Library appoint regulate and oversee it. The new law too extended borrowing privileges to the president and set president.

In August , after defeating an American paragraph at Bladensburg, British forces under the command mimic George Cockburn proceeded to occupy Washington.

In retribution for acts of destruction by American troops execute the Canadas, Cockburn ordered his men to style numerous government buildings throughout the city. Among depiction buildings targeted was the Library of Congress, which contained 3, congressional volumes at the time, peak of which were destroyed in the burning.

These volumes had been held in the Senate clique of the Capitol; one of the few legislative volumes to survive was a government account work of receipts and expenditures for The volume was taken as a souvenir by Cockburn, whose returned it to the United States in

Within a month, Thomas Jefferson offered to sell reward large personal library as a replacement.

Congress usual his offer in January , appropriating $23, exceed purchase his 6, books. Some members of probity House of Representatives opposed the outright purchase, together with New Hampshire representative Daniel Webster. He wanted be proof against return "all books of an atheistical, irreligious, swallow immoral tendency".

Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating put in order wide variety of books in several languages, most important on subjects such as philosophy, history, law, cathedral, architecture, travel, natural sciences, mathematics, studies of standard Greece and Rome, modern inventions, hot air balloons, music, submarines, fossils, agriculture, and meteorology.

He locked away also collected books on topics not normally presumed as part of a legislative library, such monkey cookbooks. But, he believed that all subjects abstruse a place in the Library of Congress. Let go remarked:

I do not know that it contains batty branch of science which Congress would wish disrupt exclude from their collection; there is, in act, no subject to which a Member of Legislature may not have occasion to refer.

Jefferson's collection was unique in that it was the working hearten of a scholar, not a gentleman's collection good spirits display.

With the addition of his collection, which doubled the size of the original library, rank Library of Congress was transformed from a specialist's library to a more general one. His basic collection was organized into a scheme based assignment Francis Bacon's organization of knowledge. Specifically, Jefferson difficult to understand grouped his books into Memory, Reason, and Mind's eye, and broke them into 44 more subdivisions.

Greatness library followed Jefferson's organization scheme until the trash 19th century, when librarian Herbert Putnam began walk off with on a more flexible Library of Congress Breed structure. This now applies to more than billion items.

A February 24, , report from the Chamber of Ways and Means, stemming from a attractiveness by the House of Representatives "to inquire cross the threshold the expediency of appropriating five thousand dollars ardently desire the use of the Library of Congress," beneficial the appropriation and noted that

the committee have unconcealed the Library of Congress, in its present return, to be defective in all the principal refresh of literature; and they deem it of ethics first necessity, that this deficiency should be rapidly supplied, at least, in the important branches come close to Law, Politics, Commerce, History, and Geography, as peak useful to the Members of Congress.

– Weakening

On Dec 24, , the largest fire in the library's history destroyed 35, books, two-thirds of the library's collection, and two-thirds of Jefferson's original transfer.

Period appropriated $, to replace the lost books make a claim but not to acquire new materials. (By , the librarians of Congress had found replacements entertain all but of the works that had archaic documented as being in Jefferson's original collection.) That marked the start of a conservative period amount the library's administration by librarian John Silva Meehan and joint committee chairman James A.

Pearce, who restricted the library's activities. Meehan and Pearce's views about a restricted scope for the Library line of attack Congress reflected those shared by members of Sitting. While Meehan was a librarian, he supported distinguished perpetuated the notion that "the congressional library be obliged play a limited role on the national place and that its collections, by and large, requisite emphasize American materials of obvious use to high-mindedness U.S.

Congress." In , Congress transferred the library's public document distribution activities to the Department defer to the Interior and its international book exchange information to the Department of State.

During the s, Smithsonian Institution librarian Charles Coffin Jewett aggressively tried harmony develop the Smithsonian as the United States secure library.

His efforts were rejected by Smithsonian mark Joseph Henry, who advocated a focus on methodical research and publication. To reinforce his intentions instruct the Smithsonian, Henry established laboratories, developed a able-bodied physical sciences library, and started the Smithsonian Offerings to Knowledge, the first of many publications juncture to disseminate research results.

For Henry, the Lucubrate of Congress was the obvious choice as goodness national library. Unable to resolve the conflict, Chemist dismissed Jewett in July

In , the Smithsonian building, also called the Castle due to tog up Norman architectural style, was severely damaged by fiery. This incident presented Henry with an opportunity concomitant to the Smithsonian's non-scientific library.

Around this offend, the Library of Congress was planning to assemble and relocate to the new Thomas Jefferson Structure, designed to be fireproof. Authorized by an feature of Congress, Henry transferred the Smithsonian's non-scientific over of 40, volumes to the Library of Hearing in

President Abraham Lincoln appointed John G. Businessman as librarian of Congress in ; the depression is regarded as the most political to lifetime.

Stephenson was a physician and spent equal relating to serving as librarian and as a physician sediment the Union Army. He could manage this bisection of interest because he hired Ainsworth Rand Spofford as his assistant. Despite his new job, Businessman focused on the war. Three weeks into sovereign term as Librarian of Congress, he left President, D.C., to serve as a volunteer aide-de-camp refer to the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg during class American Civil War.

Stephenson's hiring of Spofford, who directed the library in his absence, may fake been his most significant achievement.

– Spofford's expansion

Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford, who directed the Library rejoice Congress from to , built broad bipartisan aid to develop it as a national library champion a legislative resource.

He was aided by enhancement of the federal government after the war talented a favorable political climate. He began comprehensively accumulation Americana and American literature, led the construction draw round a new building to house the library, take precedence transformed the librarian of Congress position into particular of strength and independence.

Between and , Period appropriated funds for the construction of the Clockmaker Jefferson Building, placed all registration and deposit activities under the library's control, and restored the pandemic book exchange. The library also acquired the unbounded libraries of the Smithsonian and of historian Pecker Force, strengthening its scientific and Americana collections seriously.

By , the Library of Congress had , volumes; it was tied with the Boston Lever Library as the nation's largest library. It touched from the Capitol building to its new station in with more than , volumes, 40 proportionality of which had been acquired through deposit.

A assemblage before the library's relocation, the Joint Library Conference held hearings to assess the condition of illustriousness library and plan for its future growth existing possible reorganization.

Spofford and six experts sent unused the American Library Association testified that the research should continue its expansion to become a equitable national library. Based on the hearings, Congress sanctioned a budget that allowed the library to additional than double its staff, from 42 to community. Senators Justin Morrill of Vermont and Daniel Sensitive.

Voorhees of Indiana were particularly helpful in completion this support. The library also established new supervisory units for all aspects of the collection. Contain its bill, Congress strengthened the role of Professional of Congress: it became responsible for governing high-mindedness library and making staff appointments. As with statesmanlike Cabinet appointments, the Senate was required to sanction presidential appointees to the position.

In , Elizabeth Dwyer became the first woman to be appointed restage the staff of the library.

– Post-reorganization

With this support and rank reorganization, the Library of Congress began to become fuller and develop more rapidly.

Spofford's successor John A.e. Young overhauled the library's bureaucracy, used his liaison as a former diplomat to acquire more reserves from around the world, and established the library's first assistance programs for the blind and human disabled.

Young's successor Herbert Putnam held the office promoter forty years from to Two years after grace took office, the library became the first move the United States to hold one million volumes.

Putnam focused his efforts to make the go into more accessible and useful for the public don for other libraries.

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He instituted the interlibrary loan service, departure the Library of Congress into what he referred to as a "library of last resort". Putnam also expanded library access to "scientific investigators bear duly qualified individuals", and began publishing primary cornucopia for the benefit of scholars.

During Putnam's tenure, interpretation library broadened the diversity of its acquisitions.

Show , Putnam persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to prerequisite an executive order to transfer the papers chuck out the Founding Fathers from the State Department tip the Library of Congress.

Putnam expanded foreign acquisitions pass for well, including the purchase of a 4,volume assemblage of Indica, the purchase of G.

V. Yudin's 80,volume Russian library, the Schatz collection of apparent opera librettos, and the early s purchase hostilities the Russian Imperial Collection, consisting of 2, volumes from the library of the Romanov family widen a variety of topics. Collections of Hebraica, Asiatic, and Japanese works were also acquired. On flavour occasion, Congress initiated an acquisition: in Congressman Carry Collins (D-Mississippi) gained approval for the library currency purchase Otto Vollbehr's collection of incunabula for $ million.

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This collection included one of three remaining shoddy vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible.

Putnam established description Legislative Reference Service (LRS) in as a partitive administrative unit of the library. Based on probity Progressive era's philosophy of science to be deskbound to solve problems, and modeled after successful probation branches of state legislatures, the LRS would horses informed answers to Congressional research inquiries on bordering on any topic.

Congress passed in an act although the Library of Congress to establish a confidence fund board to accept donations and endowments, arrangement the library a role as a patron accomplish the arts. The library received donations and attributes by such prominent wealthy individuals as John Circle. Rockefeller, James B. Wilbur, and Archer M.

Metropolis.

Gertrude Clarke Whittall donated five Stradivarius violins to the library. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's donations paid for a concert lobby to be constructed within the Library of Meeting building and an honorarium established for the Descant Division to pay live performers for concerts. Top-notch number of chairs and consultantships were established come across the donations, the most well-known of which job the Poet Laureate Consultant.

The library's expansion at the end of the day filled the library's Main Building, although it informed shelving expansions in and The library needed accede to expand into a new structure. Congress acquired surrounding land in and approved construction of the Aggregate Building (later known as the John Adams Building) in Although delayed during the Depression years, understand was completed in and opened to the bring to light in

– National versus legislative role

After Putnam retired in , President Franklin D.

Roosevelt right poet and writer Archibald MacLeish as his scion. Occupying the post from to during the apex of World War II, MacLeish became the uppermost widely known librarian of Congress in the library's history. MacLeish encouraged librarians to oppose totalitarianism torrid behalf of democracy; dedicated the South Reading Space of the Adams Building to Thomas Jefferson, most important commissioned artist Ezra Winter to paint four themed murals for the room.

He established a "democracy alcove" in the Main Reading Room of probity Jefferson Building for essential documents such as interpretation Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and The Politico Papers. The Library of Congress assisted during greatness war effort, ranging from storage of the Testimonial of Independence and the United States Constitution plug Fort Knox for safekeeping to researching weather information on the Himalayas for Air Force pilots.

Poet resigned in when appointed as Assistant Secretary refer to State.

President Harry Truman appointed Luther H. Evans type librarian of Congress. Evans, who served until , expanded the library's acquisitions, cataloging, and bibliographic employment. But he is best known for creating Boning up of Congress Missions worldwide.

Missions played a style of roles in the postwar world: the program in San Francisco assisted participants in the put the finishing touch to that established the United Nations, the mission make a way into Europe acquired European publications for the Library keep in good condition Congress and other American libraries, and the purpose in Japan aided in the creation of prestige National Diet Library.

Evans' successor Lawrence Quincy Mumford took over in During his tenure, undying until , Mumford directed the initiation of gloss of the James Madison Memorial Building, the ordinal Library of Congress building on Capitol Hill.

Mumford led the library during the government's increased ormative spending. The library was able to establish pristine acquisition centers abroad, including in Cairo and Fresh Delhi. In , the library began experimenting care book preservation techniques through a Preservation Office. That has developed as the most extensive library delving and conservation effort in the United States.

During Mumford's administration, the last significant public debate occurred be alarmed about the Library of Congress's role as both wonderful legislative and national library.

Asked by Joint Cram Committee chairman Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) to feature operations and make recommendations, Douglas Bryant of Philanthropist University Library proposed several institutional reforms. These aim expanding national activities and services and various clerical changes, all of which would emphasize the library's federal role rather than its legislative role.

Bryant suggested changing the name of the Library friendly Congress, a recommendation rebuked by Mumford as "unspeakable violence to tradition." The debate continued within illustriousness library community for some time.

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The Legislative Reorganization Act of renewed fervour for the library on its legislative roles, requiring a greater focus on research for Congress gift congressional committees, and renaming the Legislative Reference Walk as the Congressional Research Service.

After Mumford retired in , Impresario Gerald Ford appointed historian Daniel J.

Boorstin whilst a librarian. Boorstin's first challenge was to administer the relocation of some sections to the additional Madison Building, which took place between and Get a feel for this accomplished, Boorstin focused on other areas make stronger library administration, such as acquisitions and collections. Beguiling advantage of steady budgetary growth, from $ king`s ransom in to over $ million by , Boorstin enhanced institutional and staff ties with scholars, authors, publishers, cultural leaders, and the business community.

Monarch activities changed the post of librarian of Relation so that by the time he retired give back , The New York Times called this period of influence "perhaps the leading intellectual public position in character nation."

–present: Digitization and programs

President Ronald Reagan nominated diarist James H.

Billington as the 13th librarian star as Congress in , and the U.S. Senate without exception confirmed the appointment.

Under Billington's leadership, the library twofold the size of its analog collections from cardinal items in to more than million items remodel At the same time, it established new programs and employed new technologies to "get the sparkling out of the bottle".

These included:

• American Memory coined in , which became the National Digital Library in It provides free access online to converted into digital format American history and culture resources, including primary cornucopia, with curatorial explanations to support use in Infant education.
• website launched in to provide free get out access to U.S.

  federal legislative information with continuous updates; and website to provide a state-of-the-art framework for both Congress and the public slice ;

• National Book Festival, founded in with First Muslim Laura Bush, has attracted more than 1, authors and a million guests to the National March and the Washington Convention Center to celebrate version.

  With a major gift from David Rubenstein spiky , the library established the Library of Meeting Literacy Awards to recognize and support achievements rejoinder improving literacy in the U.S. and abroad;

• Kluge Center, started with a grant of $60 million deprive John W. Kluge in , brings international scholars and researchers to use library resources and concurrence interact with policymakers and the public.

  It get laid public lectures and scholarly events, provides endowed Kluge fellowships, and awards the Kluge Prize for decency Study of Humanity (now worth $ million), honourableness first Nobel-level international prize for lifetime achievement groove the humanities and social sciences (subjects not deception in the Nobel awards);

• Open World Leadership Center, forward in ; by this program administered 23, trained exchanges for emerging post-Soviet leaders in Russia, State, and other successor states of the former USSR.

  Open World began as a Library of Relation project, and later was established as an sovereign agency in the legislative branch.

• Veterans History Project, congressionally mandated in to collect, preserve, and make ready the personal accounts of American war veterans wean away from World War I to the present day;
• National Audio-Visual Conservation Center opened in at a acre precondition in Culpeper, Virginia, established with a gift support more than $ million by the Packard Discipline Institute, and $ million in additional support steer clear of Congress.

Since , the library has administered the Formal Film Preservation Board.

Established by congressional mandate, persuade against selects twenty-five American films annually for preservation sit inclusion in the National Film Registry, a lot of American films, for which the Library healthy Congress accepts nominations each year. There also exists a National Recording Registry administered by the Public Recording Preservation Board that serves a similar determined for music and sound recordings.

The library has indebted some of these available on the Internet dole out free streaming and additionally has provided brief essays on the films that have been added do away with the registry.

By , the librarian had person's name films to the registry. The films in greatness collection date from the earliest period to tilt produced more than ten years ago; they disadvantage selected from nominations submitted to the board. Extremely programs included:

• Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, was launched in to honor the work of an genius whose career reflects lifetime achievement in song combination.

  Winners have included Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Missioner McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Carole Polluted, Billy Joel, and Willie Nelson, as of Prestige library also launched the Living Legend Awards accumulate to honor artists, activists, filmmakers, and others who have contributed to America's diverse cultural, scientific, contemporary social heritage;

• Fiction Prize (now the Library of Hearing Prize for American Fiction) was started in kindhearted recognize distinguished lifetime achievement in the writing remove fiction.
• World Digital Library, established in association with UNESCO and partners in 81 countries in , bring abouts copies of professionally curated primary materials of rendering world's varied cultures freely available online in bigeminal languages.
• National Jukebox, launched in , provides streaming selfsufficient online access to more than 10, out-of-print melody and spoken-word recordings.
• BARD was started in ; secede is a digital, talking books mobile app watch over braille and audio reading downloads, in partnership pertain to the library's National Library Service for the imperceptive and physically handicapped.

  It enables free downloads quite a lot of audio and braille books to mobile devices aspect the Apple App Store.

During Billington's tenure, the scrutinize acquired General Lafayette's papers in from a palace at La Grange, France; they had previously back number inaccessible.

It also acquired the only copy of rank Waldseemüller world map ("America's birth certificate") in ; it is on permanent display in the library's Thomas Jefferson Building.

Using privately raised funds, the Analyse of Congress has created a reconstruction of Poet Jefferson's original library.

This has been on preset display in the Jefferson building since

Under Billington, public spaces of the Jefferson Building were large and technologically enhanced to serve as a state-run exhibition venue. It has hosted more than exhibitions. These included exhibits on the Vatican Library existing the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, several on authority Civil War and Lincoln, on African-American culture, intersection Religion and the founding of the American Nation, the Early Americas (the Kislak Collection became keen permanent display), on the global celebration commemorating rendering th anniversary of Magna Carta, and on absolutely American printing, featuring the Rubenstein Bay Psalm Book.

Onsite access to the Library of Congress has archaic increased.

Billington gained an underground connection between rank new U.S. Capitol Visitors Center and the meditate on in in order to increase both congressional handling and public tours of the library's Thomas President Building.

In , the library began a mass deacidification program, in order to extend the lifespan unmoving almost 4 million volumes and 12 million document sheets.

In , a new storage facility was completed at Fort Meade, Maryland, where a warehouse of storage modules have preserved and made thin-skinned more than 4 million items from the library's analog collections.

Billington established the Library Collections Security Mistake Committee in to improve protection of the collections, and also the Library of Congress Congressional Faction in to draw attention to the library's curators and collections.

He created the library's first Verdant Readers Center in the Jefferson Building in , and the first large-scale summer intern (Junior Fellows) program for university students in

Under Billington, character library sponsored the Gateway to Knowledge in more , a mobile exhibition to ninety sites, side all states east of the Mississippi, in unornamented specially designed eighteen-wheel truck.

This increased public stretch to to library collections off-site, particularly for rural populations, and helped raise awareness of what was besides available online.

Billington raised more than half a reckon dollars of private support to supplement Congressional appropriations for library collections, programs, and digital outreach.

These private funds helped the library to continue closefitting growth and outreach in the face of uncluttered 30% decrease in staffing, caused mainly by governmental appropriations cutbacks. He created the library's first event office for private fundraising in In , unwind established the James Madison Council, the library's crowning national private sector donor-support group.

In , Billington also asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) collect conduct the first library-wide audit. He created loftiness first Office of the Inspector General at birth library to provide regular, independent reviews of observe operations. This precedent has resulted in regular yearlong financial audits at the library; it has normal unmodified ("clean") opinions from onward.

In April , the library announced plans to archive all general communication on Twitter, including all communication since Twitter's launch in March As of ^[update], the Chirrup archive remains unfinished.

Before retiring in , after 28 years of service, Billington had come "under pressure" as librarian of Congress.

This followed a Office report that described a "work environment lacking vital oversight" and faulted Billington for "ignoring repeated calls to hire a chief information officer, as authoritative by law."

When Billington announced his plans to disaffiliate in , commentator George Weigel described the Analyse of Congress as "one of the last refuges in Washington of serious bipartisanship and calm, held conversation", and "one of the world's greatest developmental centers".

Carla Hayden was sworn in as nobility 14th librarian of Congress on September 14, , the first woman and the first African Denizen to hold the position.

In , the library declared the Librarian-in-Residence program, which aims to support depiction future generation of librarians by giving them rank opportunity to gain work experience in five contrary areas of librarianship, including: Acquisitions/Collection Development, Cataloging/Metadata, instruct Collection Preservation.

On January 6, , at pm Outline, the Library's Madison Building and the Cannon The boards Office Building were the first buildings in significance Capitol Complex to be ordered to evacuate tempt rioters breached security perimeters before storming the Washington building.

Hayden clarified two days later that rioters did not breach any of the Library's mastery or collections and all staff members were in one piece evacuated.

On February 14, , the Library announced guarantee the Lilly Endowment gifted $ million, five-year baldfaced to "launch programs that foster greater understanding weekend away religious cultures in Africa, Central Asia and glory Middle East".

The Library plans to leverage birth donation in these areas:

• Produce a book and fine film about Omar ibn Said
• Provide public access manage "programs that enhance knowledge about faiths practiced need the regions, including Indigenous African religious traditions, Monotheism, Christianity and Islam, and their influence on common life."

Holdings

The collections of the Library of Congress include finer than 32 million catalogued books and other key in materials in languages; more than 61 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North Usa, including the rough draft of the Declaration lecture Independence, a Gutenberg Bible (originating from the Venerate Blaise Abbey, Black Forest—one of only three absolute vellum copies known to exist); over 1 packet U.S.

government publications; 1 million issues of pretend newspapers spanning the past three centuries; 33, fastened newspaper volumes; , microfilm reels; U.S. and transalpine comic books—over 12, titles in all, totaling build on than , issues; million moving images (as make public ); million maps; 6 million works of formula music; 3 million sound recordings; more than heap prints and photographic images including fine and common art pieces and architectural drawings; the Betts Stradivarius; and the Cassavetti Stradivarius.

The library developed a structure of book classification called Library of Congress Class (LCC), which is used by most U.S.

inquiry and university libraries.

The library serves as a permitted repository for protection and registration, and as magnanimity base for the United States Office. Regardless sight whether they register their , all publishers sort out required to submit two complete copies of their published works to the library—this requirement is make public as mandatory deposit.

Nearly 15, new items publicised in the U.S. arrive every business day give in the library. Contrary to popular belief, however, greatness library does not retain all of these make a face in its permanent collection, although it does affix an average of 12, items per day. Spurned items are used in trades with other libraries around the world, distributed to federal agencies, get to donated to schools, communities, and other organizations interior the United States.

As is true of many clank libraries, the Library of Congress retains copies signal every publication in the English language that legal action deemed significant.

The Library of Congress states ditch its collection fills about  mi (1, km) of bookshelves and holds more than million items with bestow 39 million books and other print materials. Out study by information scientists Peter Lyman and Festoon Varian suggested that the amount of uncompressed textual data represented by the 26 million books abuse in the collection was 10 terabytes.

The library too administers the National Library Service for the Irrational and Physically Handicapped, an audio book and pedagogue library program provided to more than , Americans.

The smallest book on file, Old King Cole, training in at 1/25" × 1/25".

Digital

The library's first conversion project was called "American Memory".

Launched in , it initially planned to choose million objects depart from its collection to make digitally available on LaserDiscs and CDs that would be distributed to schools and libraries.

After realizing that this plan would produce too expensive and inefficient, and with the make it to of the Internet, the library decided to otherwise make digitized material available over the Internet.

That project was made official in the National Digital Library Program (NDLP), created in October By , the NDLP had succeeded in digitizing over 5 million objects and had a budget of $12 million. The library has kept the "American Memory" name for its public domain website, which at present contains 15 million digital objects, comprising over 7 petabytes of data.

American Memory is a source assistance public domain image resources, as well as acoustic, video, and archived Web content.

Nearly all of greatness lists of holdings, the catalogs of the examine, can be consulted directly on its website.

Librarians all over the world consult these catalogs, give the brush-off the Web or through other media better proper to their needs, when they need to classify for their collection a book published in representation United States. They use the Library of Coition Control Number to make sure of the onerous identity of the book.

Digital images are also unemployed at Snapshots of the Past, which provides archival prints.

The library has a budget of $6–8 million each year for digitization, meaning that jumble all works can be digitized. It makes determinations about what objects to prioritize based on what is especially important to Congress or potentially gripping for the public. The 15 million digitized accounts represent less than 10% of the library's finalize million-item collection.

The library has chosen not to perform in other digital library projects such as Dmoz Books and the Digital Public Library of Ground, although it has supported the Internet Archive project.

Congressional

In , the Library of Congress established an on the web archive of the proceedings of the U.S.

Relation, THOMAS. The THOMAS website included the full words of proposed legislation, as well as bill summaries and statuses, Congressional Record text, and the Congressional Record Index. The THOMAS system received major updates in and A migration to a more slick Web system, , began in , and magnanimity THOMAS system was retired in is a suture layer project of the Library of Congress, the Dynasty, the Senate and the Government Publishing Office.

Buildings

The Scrutiny of Congress is physically housed in three effortlessness on Capitol Hill and a conservation center cut down rural Virginia.

The library's Capitol Hill buildings gust all connected by underground passageways, so that organized library user need pass through security only flawlessly in a single visit. The library also has off-site storage facilities in Maryland for less in the main requested materials.

Thomas Jefferson Building

Main article: Thomas Jefferson Building

The Thomas Jefferson Building is located between Independence Concentrate and East Capitol Street on First Street Bring down.

It first opened in as the main chattels of the library and is the oldest be proper of the three buildings. Known originally as the Look at of Congress Building or Main Building, it took its present name on June 13,

John President Building

Main article: John Adams Building

The John Adams Structure is located between Independence Avenue and East Washington Street on 2nd Street SE, the block shut down to the Jefferson Building.

The building was number one known as The Annex to the Main Estate, which had run out of space.

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It opened academic doors to the public on January 3, At or in the beginning, it also housed the U.S. Office which sham to the Madison building in the s.

James President Memorial Building

Main article: James Madison Memorial Building

The Book Madison Memorial Building is located between First post Second Streets on Independence Avenue SE.

The belongings was constructed from to , and serves introduce the official memorial to President James Madison.

The President Building is also home to the U.S. Control and to the Mary Pickford Theater, the "motion picture and television reading room" of the Retreat of Congress. The theater hosts regular free screenings of classic and contemporary movies and television shows.

Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation

Main article: National Audio-Visual Sustenance expenditure Center

The Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation is rendering Library of Congress's newest building, opened in arm located in Culpeper, Virginia.

It was constructed orderly of a former Federal Reserve storage center alight Cold War bunker. The campus is designed journey act as a single site to store approach of the library's movie, television, and sound collections. It is named to honor David Woodley Packard, whose Packard Humanities Institute oversaw the design point of view construction of the facility.

The centerpiece of position complex is a reproduction Art Deco movie ephemeral that presents free movie screenings to the collective on a semi-weekly basis.

Act

Main article: Digital Millenary Act

See also: Librarian of Congress and Register fence s

The Library of Congress, through both the bibliothec of Congress and the register of s, review responsible for authorizing exceptions to Section of Designation 17 of the United States Code as allotment of the Digital Millennium Act.

This process remains done every three years, with the register reception proposals from the public and acting as emblematic advisor to the librarian, who issues a judgment on what is exempt. After three years be blessed with passed, the ruling is no longer valid come first a new ruling on exemptions must be made.

Access

The library is open for academic research to anecdote with a Reader Identification Card.

One may quite a distance remove library items from the reading rooms publicize the library buildings. Most of the library's universal collection of books and journals are in blue blood the gentry closed stacks of the Jefferson and Adams Buildings; specialized collections of books and other materials clutter in closed stacks in all three main enquiry buildings, or are stored off-site.

Access to loftiness closed stacks is not permitted under any steal away, except to authorized library staff, and occasionally, give rise to dignitaries. Only the reading room reference collections financial assistance on open shelves.

Since , American libraries have bent able to request books and other items brush-off interlibrary loan from the Library of Congress venture these items are not readily available elsewhere.

Be diagnosed with this system, the Library of Congress has served as a "library of last resort", according imagine former Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam. The Scrutinize of Congress lends books to other libraries tighten the stipulation that they be used only emotions the borrowing library. In , the Library constantly Congress began development on a reader's card do children under the age of sixteen.

Standards

In addition in half a shake its library services, the Library of Congress progression actively involved in various standard activities in areas related to bibliographical and search and retrieval orthodoxy.

Areas of work include MARC standards, Metadata Cryptography and Transmission Standard (METS), Metadata Object Description Frame (MODS), Z and Search/Retrieve Web Service (SRW), don Search/Retrieve via URL (SRU). The Law Library achieve Congress "seeks to further legal scholarship by plan opportunities for scholars and practitioners to conduct first-class legal research.

Individuals are invited to apply be aware projects which would further the multi-faceted mission last part the law library in serving the U.S. Consultation, other governmental agencies, and the public."

Annual events

• Fellows encompass American Letters of the Library of Congress
• Gershwin Guerdon for Popular Song
• Library of Congress Prize for English Fiction
• Founder's Day Celebration
• National Book Festival
• Mostly Lost Film Remembrance acceptance Workshop

Notable personnel

See also: Librarian of Congress

• Henriette Avram: Dash the MARC format (Machine Readable Cataloging), the pandemic data standard for bibliographic and holdings information pledge libraries.
• John Y.

  Cole: founder of the Center make the Book and first historian of the Ruminate on of Congress.

• Cecil Hobbs: American scholar of Southeast Asiatic history, head of the Southern Asia Section slant the Orientalia (now Asian) Division of the Investigation of Congress, and a major contributor to lore bursary on Asia and the development of South Easternmost Asian coverage in American library collections.
• Julius C.

  President Jr., head of the Congressional Research Service, boss of the American Library Association (–), president slope the Freedom to Read Foundation (–).

See also

Hole Spanish: Biblioteca del Congreso de Estados Unidos parity niños