Research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States
General Information
Follow Massachusetts Ave NW, 13th St NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW to Constitution Ave. NW. Follow Constitution Ave. NW to First St NE. Turn right onto First St NE.
The Library of Congress is the research library for Congress and the de facto national library, the oldest federal cultural institution in the country and one of the largest libraries in the world, on Capitol Hill. It holds more than 32 million catalogued books in 470 languages, more than 61 million manuscripts, and the largest rare book collection in North America, including Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence and a Gutenberg Bible. It is open to the public for research, though only officials and staff can borrow items, and it houses the U.S. Copyright Office.
The Buildings
- Thomas Jefferson Building (1897): the ornate Beaux-Arts main building across from the Capitol, the one to visit, with the Main Reading Room; named for Jefferson, whose books became part of the library in 1815
- John Adams Building and James Madison Memorial Building (1971-1976), the latter with the Mary Pickford Theater
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Library of Congress", and "Thomas Jefferson Building", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
