Libraries

Libraries are a fundamental part of our nation's society. They have been a place where you can find literary and artistic materials, such as books, magazines, periodicals, and recordings, which are all available for viewing. From past to present, our history has revolved around these nationwide landmarks, whether it be from the history within the books or the place where the library is located. One such library is the historical Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is the unofficial national library of the United States.

On april 24, 1800, when President Adam signed an act of congress to change our country's capital city to Washington. He also established the Library of Congress. The purpose of this library was to hold books that would be appropriate for Congress use. The Library of Congress initially only contained 3000 books. It remained a small library until it was burned down in the war against Britain in 1814. Soon after the library was destroyed, retired President Thomas Jefferson donated his vast collection of books for the rebuilding of the library. The donated books and the money that Congress approved for the rebuilding and the reorganizing of the library was the foundation of our present day Library of Congress.

Today, the Library of Congress is the second largest library in the world and the longest. It contains over 120 million items, which is stored on it's 530 miles of shelves. The Combination of all your city's libraries fail in comparison to the size of the huge library. Its collections include more than 28 million cataloged books and other print materials in 470 languages. The only library that is larger than the United States Library of Congress is Great Britain's National Library.

It's not limited to storing books it also stores records and copyrights also. This library which was solely used for congress is now vastly used publicly. 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 Identifcation 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, Passport). However, only members of Congress, their staff and certain other government officials can actually check out books.