Library of Congress

This article is about the United States Library of Congress. For other uses, see Library of Congress (disambiguation).

Library of Congress
Main reading room of the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building
38°53′19″N 77°0′17″W / 38.88861°N 77.00472°W / 38.88861; -77.00472
LocationWashington, D.C.
EstablishedApril 24, 1800; 224 years ago (April 24, 1800)
Collection
Size173 million items[a]
Access and use
CirculationOnsite use only
Population servedCongress, citizens, and international visitors
Other information
Budget$802.128 million[2]
DirectorCarla Hayden
Employees3,105[2]
Websiteloc.gov Edit this at Wikidata

The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the de facto national library of the United States.[3] It also administers copyright law through the United States Copyright Office.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.[4] It is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill, adjacent to the United States Capitol, along with the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, and additional storage facilities at Fort George G. Meade and Cabin Branch in Maryland.[5] The library's functions are overseen by the librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the architect of the Capitol. The LOC is one of the largest libraries in the world,[3][6] containing approximately 173 million items and employing over 3,000 staff. Its collections are "universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages".[4]

When Congress moved to Washington in November 1800, a small congressional library was housed in the Capitol. Much of the original collection was lost in the August 1814 Burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812. Congress accepted former president Thomas Jefferson's offer to sell his entire personal collection of 6,487 books to restore the library. The collection grew slowly and suffered another major fire in 1851, which destroyed two-thirds of Jefferson's original books.

The Library of Congress faced space shortages, understaffing, and lack of funding, until the American Civil War increased the importance of legislative research to meet the demands of a growing federal government.[7][clarification needed] In 1870, the library gained the right to receive two copies of every copyrightable work printed in the United States; it also built its collections through acquisitions and donations. Between 1890 and 1897, a new library building, now the Thomas Jefferson Building, was constructed. Two additional buildings, the John Adams Building (opened in 1939) and the James Madison Memorial Building (opened in 1980), were later added.

The LOC's primary mission is to inform legislation, which it carries out through the Congressional Research Service. The library is open to the public for research, although only members of Congress, their staff, and library employees may borrow materials for use outside the library.[8]

  1. ^ "Year 2020 at a Glance". Library of Congress. 2020. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "2021 Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress" (PDF). Library of Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Library of Congress". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on April 5, 2020. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Fascinating Facts". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on April 5, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  5. ^ "General Information". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  6. ^ "Fascinating Facts – Statistics". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on April 5, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  7. ^ "The Library of Congress: A Timeline | History of the Library of Congress | About the Library | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  8. ^ "FY 2019–2023 Strategic Plan of the Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 20, 2020.


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