Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has the dual role of assisting Congress and serving as the nation's library. With more than 120 million items in its collection, the library is one [Page p289]of the largest in the world. The collection grows each year, usually by more than 2 million new items.

The librarian of Congress oversees the library and its staff of about 4,000 people. The librarian is a presidential appointee, confirmed by the Senate, but reports to Congress, which has a ten-member Joint Committee on the Library. The thirteenth librarian of Congress, historian James H. Billington, was appointed in 1987. (See Library Committee, Joint.)

Members of Congress are privileged users of the library. Their requests for books or background information are handled by a separate division, the Congressional Research Service (CRS). It has about 700 employees whose duties range from answering simple queries to spending several months on a complicated analysis. CRS answered more than 700,000 inquiries from Congress in fiscal 2001.

The library is housed in three sprawling buildings on Capitol Hill. Its holdings include one of three known perfect copies of the Gutenberg Bible (which is on display), a set of stringed instruments made by Antonio Stradivari, Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, a nearly complete set of Matthew Brady's photographs of the Civil War, and the personal papers of twenty-three presidents, from Washington through Coolidge.

The earliest known motion picture, Fred Ott's Sneeze, copyrighted in 1893 by Thomas Edison, is part of the library's collection, as is the world's smallest book, Ant, which is 1.4 millimeters square.

Not every book published in the United States enters the library's collection. Although the library buys books and subscribes to periodicals, its collection also benefits from copyright laws. Authors seeking U.S. copyright protection for books, music, photographs, art, movies, or other work must deposit one, and sometimes two, copies at the Library of Congress. The library does not keep every copyrighted work, but it adds to its collection thousands of the more than half a million items that are copyrighted each year.

Works in more than 450 different languages are included in the library's holdings; about two-thirds of its books are not in English.

A major library service is cataloging books published in the United States and abroad. U.S. libraries buy catalog cards, computer tapes, and other materials from the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress gives a catalog number to every book published in the United States (and many published abroad) that reflects the book's subject matter. The library also maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification System, which is used by most public libraries.

Library of Congress

[Page p290]The library produces books in Braille and records books on tape for distribution to 136 cooperating libraries that provide services to nearly 700,000 blind or partially sighted people. About 2,500 book titles and a variety of music scores are selected each year for Braille transcription or for recording.

Scholars from all over the world are attracted to the Library of Congress and its extensive holdings. Their appreciation of its resources was given a rare public display in 1986, when more than one hundred researchers protested early closing hours. Some protesters refused to leave the main reading room at the new closing time of 5:30 p.m., and several were eventually arrested. Others marched in front of the building. A public relations success, the protest prompted Congress to provide additional funds and earmark them for operating the library during evening hours. (Seven of the library's twenty-one reading rooms currently remain open until 9:30 p.m., generally on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. For specific information, call (202) 707-6400.)

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