The Library of Congress: the world's largest library and a national treasure By Malcolm Brantz Director, Learning Resource Center Arapahoe Community College Littleton, Colorado Libraries in the United States have enjoyed a rich and long history of progressive achievements in providing "information/knowledge" to patrons. While libraries have been in existence for many hundreds of years, the modern age of library collections and services started with the establishing of the Library of Congress (LC) in 1800. The Library of Congress's connections to Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) are close and important. He was the institution's "spiritual founder," and today the Library is the major repository of his books and papers. Jefferson once proclaimed "I cannot live without books." During his presidency (1801-1809), he signed the act of Congress that provided for the appointment of a Librarian of Congress and gave Congress the power to establish the Library's rules and regulations. Throughout his presidency, he recommended books for the Library's collections. You could say that by recommending books for ACC's library, you are doing a presidential type of activity. (John Cole, 1999) LC is the largest library in the world with an annual budget of over $459 million dollars a year. Employing literally thousands of individuals, the main building is located in Washington, DC. Other activities include preserving the nation's film recordings. For example, "Apocalypse Now" 1979 and "Shaft" 1971 are on the list to be preserved. I had the good fortune of visiting LC in 1998 while attending the American Library Associations annual meeting. LC was the opening its new exhibits hall to coincide with the national meeting and prepare for their 200th birthday. To me the most impressive exhibit item was a Guttenberg bible in perfect condition. The book is truly a work of art. LC is not limited to collection of materials and issuing copyright. The library's program "Open World" brings emerging political leaders from Russia to the US to observe the workings of democratic institutions. Over 4,000 people from Russia have visited 48 states in this country. Jefferson's argument that "there is ... no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer" became the rationale for justifying the Library's national and international roles. As we'll see in future newsletters, three other subject related libraries have been established (National Library of Medicine, National Agricultural Library and the National Library of Education) to provide additional services, expertise and research programs to the large areas of national importance. The point of this is that your ACC library is part of a larger and well-defined network. Our knowledge industry is the best in the world and your ACC library can play an important link to accessing that system. A few facts about LC's collections: 1. 121 million items in its collection 2. 27.8 million books 3. 3 million items added in 2000 4. 54 million manuscripts 5. 4.2 million music pieces 6. 13.5 million audiovisuals 7. 19,215,629 arrearage (work to be done) 8. Issue copyrights for 515,612 items in 2000 |
The Library of Congress: the world's largest library and a national treasure By Malcolm Brantz Director, Learning Resource Center Arapahoe Community College Littleton, Colorado Libraries in the United States have enjoyed a rich and long history of progressive achievements in providing "information/knowledge" to patrons. While libraries have been in existence for many hundreds of years, the modern age of library collections and services started with the establishing of the Library of Congress (LC) in 1800. The Library of Congress's connections to Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) are close and important. He was the institution's "spiritual founder," and today the Library is the major repository of his books and papers. Jefferson once proclaimed "I cannot live without books." During his presidency (1801-1809), he signed the act of Congress that provided for the appointment of a Librarian of Congress and gave Congress the power to establish the Library's rules and regulations. Throughout his presidency, he recommended books for the Library's collections. You could say that by recommending books for ACC's library, you are doing a presidential type of activity. (John Cole, 1999) LC is the largest library in the world with an annual budget of over $459 million dollars a year. Employing literally thousands of individuals, the main building is located in Washington, DC. Other activities include preserving the nation's film recordings. For example, "Apocalypse Now" 1979 and "Shaft" 1971 are on the list to be preserved. I had the good fortune of visiting LC in 1998 while attending the American Library Associations annual meeting. LC was the opening its new exhibits hall to coincide with the national meeting and prepare for their 200th birthday. To me the most impressive exhibit item was a Guttenberg bible in perfect condition. The book is truly a work of art. LC is not limited to collection of materials and issuing copyright. The library's program "Open World" brings emerging political leaders from Russia to the US to observe the workings of democratic institutions. Over 4,000 people from Russia have visited 48 states in this country. Jefferson's argument that "there is ... no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer" became the rationale for justifying the Library's national and international roles. As we'll see in future newsletters, three other subject related libraries have been established (National Library of Medicine, National Agricultural Library and the National Library of Education) to provide additional services, expertise and research programs to the large areas of national importance. The point of this is that your ACC library is part of a larger and well-defined network. Our knowledge industry is the best in the world and your ACC library can play an important link to accessing that system. A few facts about LC's collections: 1. 121 million items in its collection 2. 27.8 million books 3. 3 million items added in 2000 4. 54 million manuscripts 5. 4.2 million music pieces 6. 13.5 million audiovisuals 7. 19,215,629 arrearage (work to be done) 8. Issue copyrights for 515,612 items in 2000 |
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