Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is located in Washington, DC. It spans three buildings, The Thomas Jefferson Building, which is the main building, The John Adams Building which contains the Rare Book room and The James Madison Memorial Building which houses the Law Library of Congress. It is the largest library in the world with more than 144 million items.http://www.loc.gov/about/history.html

The Library's mission is to "make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations." http://www.loc.gov/about/mission.html

The Library of Congress was established in 1800 when the Capitol Seat was transfered from Philadelphia, Pa to Washington,DC. There was $5,000 used from the legislation to establish a small library for use by Congress that was housed in the Capitol Building. It was located there until it was burned by invading British Troops in 1814. In 1815, Thomas Jefferson sold his collection of 6,487 books to congress to establish a foundation for a new library. In 1888 a new separate building was started for the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building was opened in 1897 and was believed to be one of the strongest and safest buildings of its time. The Library of Congress is open to the public but only Legislators, Supreme Court Justices, and high ranking government officials may check out books. http://www.loc.gov/about/history.html