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Library of Congress

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Politics and government

   The Great Hall interior.
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   The Great Hall interior.

   The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United
   States and the research arm of the United States Congress. It is one of
   the largest and most important libraries in the world. Its collections
   include more than 29 million catalogued books and other print materials
   in 470 languages; more than 58 million manuscripts; the largest rare
   book collection in North America, including a Gutenberg Bible; over 1
   million US Government publications; 1 million issues of world
   newspapers spanning the past three centuries; 33,000 bound newspaper
   volumes; 500,000 microfilm reels; over 6,000 comic book titles; the
   world's largest collection of legal materials; films; 4.8 million maps;
   sheet music; and 2.7 million sound recordings. The head of the Library
   is the Librarian of Congress.

History

   Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May
   15, 1894.
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   Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May
   15, 1894.

   The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800, when
   President John Adams signed an act of Congress providing for the
   transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital
   city of Washington. The legislation appropriated $5,000 "for the
   purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ...,
   and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them...." The
   original library was housed in the new Capitol until August 1814, when
   invading British troops set fire to the Capitol building, destroying
   the contents of the small (3,000 volumes) library.

   Within a month, former President Thomas Jefferson offered his personal
   library as a replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating
   books, "putting by everything which related to America, and indeed
   whatever was rare and valuable in every science"; his library was
   considered to be one of the finest in the United States. Jefferson, who
   was heavily indebted, sought to use the proceeds of the sale of his
   books to satisfy his creditors. He anticipated controversy over the
   nature of his collection, which included books in foreign languages and
   volumes of philosophy, science, literature, and other topics not
   normally viewed as part of a legislative library. To satisfy any
   objections as to the suitability of his collection for Congress' use,
   he wrote, "I do not know that it contains any branch of science which
   Congress would wish to exclude from their collection; there is, in
   fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to
   refer."

   In January 1815, Congress accepted Jefferson's offer, appropriating
   $23,950 for his 6,487 books, and the foundation was laid for a great
   national library. The Jeffersonian concept of universality, the belief
   that all subjects are important to the library of the American
   legislature, is the philosophy and rationale behind the comprehensive
   collecting policies of today's Library of Congress.

   On December 24, 1851, a fire destroyed 35,000 books, an original
   portrait of Christopher Columbus, portraits of the first five US
   Presidents by Gilbert Stuart, and statues of George Washington, Thomas
   Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette.
   Main Library of Congress Building at the start of the 20th century.
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   Main Library of Congress Building at the start of the 20th century.

   The Library is now spread over three buildings in Washington, D.C.:
     * The Thomas Jefferson Building (between Independence Avenue and East
       Capitol Street on First Street SE), opened in 1897, and long the
       main building of the Library;
     * The John Adams Building (between Independence Avenue and East
       Capitol Street on 2nd Street SE), opened as an annex in 1938; and
     * The James Madison Memorial Building (between First and Second
       Streets on Independence Avenue SE), opened in 1981 as the new
       headquarters of the Library.

   (Note: Between April 13, 1976 and June 13, 1980, the John Adams
   Building was known as the Thomas Jefferson Building.)

   In late-November 2005, the Library announced intentions to launch the
   World Digital Library, digitally preserving books and other objects
   from all world cultures.

Holdings

   Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building.
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   Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building.

   The Library developed a system of book classification called Library of
   Congress Classification (LC) which is used by most US research and
   university libraries, although most public libraries continue to use
   the Dewey decimal system.

   The Library serves as a legal repository for copyright protection and
   copyright registration, and as the base for the United States Copyright
   Office. Regardless of whether they are seeking copyright, all
   publishers are required to submit two copies of their copyrightable
   works to the Library - this requirement is known as mandatory deposit.
   Nearly 22,000 new items published in the U.S. arrive every business day
   at the Library. Contrary to popular belief, however, the Library does
   not retain all of these works in its permanent collection, although it
   does add an average of 10,000 items per day. Rejected items are used in
   trades with other libraries around the world, distributed to federal
   agencies, or donated to schools, communities, and other organizations
   within the United States. As is true of many similar libraries, the
   Library of Congress retains copies of every publication in the English
   language which is deemed significant.

   The Guinness Book of World Records currently lists the Library of
   Congress as the "World's Largest Library". This apparently is based on
   the shelf space the collection occupies; the Library of Congress states
   that its collection fills about 530 miles (850 km), while the British
   Library, reports about 388 miles (625 km) of shelves. The Library of
   Congress holds about 130 million items with 29 million books against
   approximately 150 million items with 25 million books for the British
   Library.

   It is estimated that the print holdings of the Library of Congress
   would, if digitized and stored as plain text, constitute 17 to 20
   terabytes of information. This leads many people to conclude that 20
   terabytes is equivalent to the entire holdings of the Library, but this
   is misleading because many items have not been digitized, and not all
   of them consist of plain text. (Occasionally, this figure has been
   referred to as a data transfer rate, LoC/s — Libraries of Congress per
   second – defined as 20 terabytes of data transferred per second). The
   Library currently has no plans for systematic digitization of any
   significant portion of its books.

   The Library makes millions of digital objects, comprising tens of
   terabytes, available at its American Memory site. American Memory is a
   source for public domain image resources, as well as audio, video, and
   archived Web content. Nearly all of the lists of holdings, the catalogs
   of the library, can be consulted directly on its web site. Librarians
   all over the world consult these catalogs, through the Web or through
   other media better suited to their needs, when they need to catalog for
   their collection a book published in the United States. They use the
   Library of Congress Control Number to make sure of the exact identity
   of the book.

   The Library of Congress also provides an on-line archive of the
   proceedings of the U.S. Congress at THOMAS, including bill text,
   Congressional Record text, bill summary and status, the Congressional
   Record Index, and the United States Constitution.

   The Library also administers the National Library Service for the Blind
   and Physically Handicapped, a talking and Braille library program
   provided to more than 766,000 Americans.
   Library of Congress reading room.
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   Library of Congress reading room.

Using the Library

   The library is open to the general public for academic research, and
   runs tours for visitors. Only those who are issued a "Reader
   Identification Card" may enter the reading rooms and access the
   collection. The Reader Identification Card is available in the Madison
   building to persons who are over 18 years of age upon presentation of a
   government issued picture identification (e.g., driver's license, state
   ID card or passport). However, only members of Congress, Supreme Court
   Justices, their staff, Library of Congress staff and certain other
   government officials can actually check out books.

   Libraries in the United States may request books and other items
   through interlibrary loan from the Library of Congress if these items
   are not readily available elsewhere. Since 1902, the Library of
   Congress has served as a "library of last resort."

Annual events

   Annual events include:
     * The National Book Festival
     * Founder's Day Celebration
     * Archives Fair
     * Judith P. Austin Memorial Lecture
     * Davidson Fellows Reception

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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