Library of Congress

• http://www.loc.gov/index.html
• http://catalog.loc.gov/

The Library of Congress, maintained in Washington, D.C., was established April 24, 1800, by President John Adams.  It is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, maintaining a collection including more than 30 million catalogued books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 58 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America 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; the world's largest collection of legal materials; films; 4.8 million maps; sheet music; and 2.7 million sound recordings.

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. The Office of the Librarian is tasked to set policy and to direct and support programs and activities to accomplish the Library's mission.

The Library of Congress is open to the general public for visitor tours and for academic research.  However, only those persons issued a "Reader Identification Card" are authorized to enter the reading rooms and access the collection. A Reader Identification Card may be applied for at the Madison building to persons at least 18 years of age who present a valid driver’s license, passport, state ID card, or other government issued photo identification.

While access may be granted to the collection, “check out” privileges are restricted to members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, their staff, Library of Congress staff and certain other government officials.  Public libraries in the United States may also request books and other items from the Library of Congress through interlibrary loan system, if these items are not readily available elsewhere.