Established in 1914, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a legislative department within the LOC responsible for supporting lawmakers through every step of the lawmaking process. Members of Congress drafting legislation don’t necessarily need to do the nitty-gritty research themselves: There’s a whole team of lawyers, librarians, economists, and scientists employed through the Library of Congress to do it for them. As president, Madison approved the purchase of Jefferson’s personal library in 1814. He planted the idea as a Continental Congress member in 1783 when he suggested compiling a list of books to which lawmakers could refer. Seventeen years prior to the LOC's official formation, James Madison proposed the idea of a special library for Congress. James Madison first proposed the Library of Congress. (The increased diversity of the collection was a subject of criticism at the time, to which Jefferson responded by saying "there is in fact no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer.”) Sadly, the library met with another tragedy when a second fire tore through it on Christmas Eve 1851, burning two-thirds of Jefferson’s contribution. Jefferson's contributions significantly expanded the scope of the library, by including books on art, science, and philosophy. He agreed to sell all of his books to Congress for $23,950 in 1815. Thomas Jefferson’s personal library comprised well over 6000 volumes, making it the largest library in the country at the time. Approximately 3000 books (mostly law-related) were lost in the blaze, but luckily a friend of Washington D.C. Not long after it was established, tragedy struck the Library of Congress: Its contents were destroyed when the Capitol Building was set on fire by British troops during the War of 1812. Thomas Jefferson helped rebuild the Library of Congress catalog after a fire. The library was conceived of as a resource available exclusively to members of Congress, containing "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress." That remains the case today, though citizens can read books on site or request them at their local library through an interlibrary loan. It was established by the same bill that officially moved the capital from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest cultural institution.įounded in 1800, the Library of Congress is America’s oldest federal cultural institution. Here are 11 facts worth knowing about the Washington, D.C.-based establishment. The Library of Congress catalog includes iconic films, historical documents, and your tweets about lunch. For more than two centuries, the Library of Congress (LOC) and its staff have served as invaluable resources for American legislators.
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