The Library of
Congress
By Katrina Deliramich
“NCIPIT: ‘Here
Beginneth’“ (Olmert, 1992, p.19). In medieval times NCIPIT meant the beginning
of a magical journey through a book, I am going to take you through a journey
of how books became a part of the nations largest and most recognized library,
the Library of Congress.
“What spectacle can be more edifying or more
seasonable, than that of Liberty & Learning, each leaning on the other”
(Kranich, 2001, p.169)? Libraries have been around for thousands of years,
providing information access to private and public sectors. One of the most
famous libraries is the Library of Congress, which houses every published piece
of work in the United States. Through the years libraries have gone through
many changes, from just a place filled with books for storage to the new
information world of electronic books and Internet access. This paper will look
at the history of the Library of Congress through the present day and how they
will face the continual rise of information while still maintaining access for
everyone.
November
1, 1897 saw the opening of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. A Grand
sight, spectators called the library “The largest, most expensive, and most reliable
library in the world” (Bosser, 2003, p. 218). It took many years and battles
for the library to become such a spectacular meeting place for intellectuals.
In order to look at the history of the Library of Congress you need to first go
back to the creation of a public library. Public libraries were not always a
probability in America. Equality took a long time to become a fixture and it
can be argued that today you still can not expect that everyone has a right to
everything, just look at celebrities compared to everyday people. “The idea
that every person should be educated is an even more recent and radical one”
(Lerner, 1998, p.138). Luckily we value education and it is becoming more and
more available for everyone to pursue their education as far as they would like
to go. The idea that everyone should be able to access books and information in
the United States was started by Benjamin Franklin when he created The Library
Company of Philadelphia, still used today. He first created this idea in 1727,
but it fell apart and took until 1732 until there was enough support and
materials for worthwhile access.
Public
libraries have been a great tool for our nation.
“If
future generations can learn anything from an examination of library history,
it is that the objectives of the public library are directly dependent upon the
objectives of society itself. The true frame of reference for the library is to
be found in its coeval culture. No librarian can see clearly the ends, which he
should seek when his country is confused about the direction in which it is
moving. When people are certain of the goals toward which they strive, the
function of the public library can be precisely defined” (Kranich, 2001, p.60).
Franklin
laid the groundwork for what libraries could do for the everyday person. He
stated “ These libraries have improved the general conversation of Americans,
made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from
other countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so
generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their privileges” (Lerner,
1998, p.141). The next step was to create a library for use by congress to
improve the intelligence of those working for the people.
In
1812 the capitol was established in Washington D.C. The Library of Congress
would soon follow to provide a library containing “such books as may be
necessary for the use of Congress…” (Murray, 2009, p.156). Previously Congress
had been able to use The Library Company of Philadelphia, since they moved to
Washington D.C. they were no longer able to access those books. James Madison
made a proposal to purchase a collection of books to start a new library, but
his proposal was turned down. Madison’s suggestion was the first attempt at creating
a Library of Congress. John Adams, as president, passed a legislation to create
a library for congress.
The
Library of Congress was not housed in it’s own building but was located in one
wing of the Capitol building. Members of congress, the president and the vice
president were all allowed access to the library. The president appointed a
Librarian to oversee the library and provide rules and regulations. The
original Library of Congress was burned by the British and had to be rebuilt. A
new vision for a grander library emerged “In a country of such general
intelligence as this, the Congressional or national Library of the United
states [should] become the great repository of the literature of the world”
(Murray, 2009, p.155).
In
1814 the Library of Congress caught fire and the whole collection was
destroyed. Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his collection of books “I have
been fifty years making it, and have spared no pains, opportunity or expense”
(Murray, 2009, p.161). Jefferson’s collection consisted of books on every
subject and allowed the original library to expand it interests from just law
and history to contain al other fields and become a general library. Thomas
Jefferson was well aware that his collection was different from the previous original
collection; His collection went far beyond the books used for legislative
research. Jefferson argued with congress that there was, “no subject to which a
Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer.” (Lerner, 1998, p.118). His
collection consisted of 6,487 books, which doubled the original size of the
library. President Madison wrote to Jefferson to tell him that he felt the
collection would “prove a gain to them, if they have the wisdom to replace it
by such a collection as yours” (Crawford, 2008, p.112). This time around
however the library would not be for “those branches of science which belong to
the deliberations of members as statesmen” (Murray, 2009, p.162). The library
would be for all people.
The
Library of Congress grew rapidly from the small collection acquired from
Jefferson. Librarian Ainsworth Spofford saw the collection grow from 70,000 to
680,000 during the time he worked there. A big part of this growth can be
contributed to the fact that in 1870 a copyright law was passed. Spofford
played a large role in the passing of the copyright law ensuring two copies of
every “ book, pamphlet, map, print, photograph, and piece of music registered
for copyright be deposited in the library”(Glass, 2007). In order to house all
the books they acquired Spofford recommended moving the library to its own
building.
Spofford
worked tirelessly to create a library for the people. It was his vision to
share the know\ledge the library of Congress had and would acquire, with
everyone. He said, “there is no work, within the vast range of literature and
science, which may not at some time prove useful to the legislative of a great
nation”(Kranich, 2001, p.172). He felt the United States was “a Republic which
rests upon the popular intelligence”(Kranich, 2001, p.172). Spofford turned to his senator friends to
help create speeches to persuade congress to make the library for the people.
One Senator, Justin S. Morrill, gave a speech saying, “we must wither reduce the
Library to the stinted and specific wants of Congress alone, or permit it to
advance to national importance, and give it room equal to the culture, wants,
and resources of a great people” (Kranich, 2001, p.174).
In
1897 the Thomas Jefferson building of the Library of Congress was opened to the
public. Spofford had worked meticulously to see that the building was large
enough to hold the ever-increasing collection. The Jefferson building was
326,000 square feet. Spofford had helped bring a classification system and
cataloging to the new library. The public was very impressed with what they
saw; one spectator said “A fitting temple for the great thoughts of generations
past, present, and to be” (Conaway, 2000, p.89).
In
the 1950’s the Library of Congress was facing a challenge. Many universities
and associations were requesting help and use of the library. The funds given
to the library to buy more books was drastically lower than the funds being
received by these universities and associations that were requesting the help
of the Library of Congress. Technology was also expensive and needed to be
increased. The Library of Congress needed to deal with all the new issues
interfering with their progress. Knowledge was ever increasing but so was,
“Technological progress and its potential for storage, retrieval, and
transmission of information, and equalization of job opportunities” (Conaway,
2000, p.141).
“The
palace is the people’s own” (Murray, 2009)! Today the Library of Congress
consists of three buildings. The Thomas Jefferson building, John Adams building
and the James Madison building. The Thomas Jefferson building was the first to
be built; this building is what gives the Library of Congress the reputation as
being one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. The Jefferson building
contains marble staircases, paints on the ceilings and walls, statues and
inscriptions. It is gold and white from floor to ceiling and looks like a
palace. Thomas Jefferson’s name is represented on the first building of the
Library of Congress because to some he is referred to as the “Father of the
Library of Congress” because of all his contributions to the library.
The
John Adams building was originally the annex building created when the Thomas
Jefferson building got too full and needed more room for the collection. It was
later named after Adams. This building was opened in 1939 to the public. Adams
name was chosen to represent the second building at the Library of Congress
because he was the president who signed the law establishing the Library of
Congress. John Adams building is beautifully designed with ornate doors,
inscriptions in the walls and a room dedicated to Thomas Jefferson that has his
murals all over the walls.
James
Madison is the last of the three buildings that make up the Library of Congress.
Built in 1980 the Madison building took over twenty-three years to complete.
The James Madison buildings serves two purposes, it is the third building of
the Library of Congress but it is also the official memorial for James Madison.
This building is one of the largest buildings in Washington D.C. More modern in
style then the other two buildings it still includes quotations and statues as
well as a four-story “falling books” display.
The
mission statement of the Library of Congress 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” (Rubin, 2004, p.161). Even after all these years the Library of
Congress is still one of the most highly recognized libraries in the world.
Congress has their own area above the reading room in the Thomas Jefferson
building and they hold meetings and do research on important topics in our
country.
James Billington is the current Librarian
of Congress. Billington was appointed Librarian of Congress by Ronald Regan in
1987. He is the thirteenth Librarian of Congress. He attended Princeton
University and Oxford University, although his degree was not in Library
Science. Unlike his predecessor, Daniel Boorstein, the ALA did not oppose his
appointment to Librarian of Congress, despite his lack of a MLS. The ALA had
previously opposed Daniel Boorstein for the exact same reason.
Billington
has proved beneficial for the Library of Congress. When he took the position
his plan was to make the library more accessible throughout the nation. He has
so far made the Libraries electronic catalog available to the public. He
created Thomas, which is a public database that records federal legislative activity.
He has made the special collections available to the public through the
American Memory program, which consists of more than 11 million items in the
collection. He also proved able to persuade congress to give 100 million to
develop the National Digital Information infrastructure and Preservation
program. He has proved himself over the years and continues to expand and
benefit the Library of Congress (Thorin, and Wedgeworth, 2007, p.89).
Billington stated, he wanted to “increase the knowledge available to Americans
in their local communities- in schools, colleges, libraries, and private sector
research enterprises” (Kranich, 2001, p.179). He felt this would allow “even
those Americans far from great universities and the most affluent schools and
libraries can still have access to the best of the nation’s heritage and the
latest in up-to-date information” (Kranich, 2001, p.179).
The
Library of Congress is a public library open to all people. But if you look
closely at the library it is still catered towards the congressmen over the
everyday people. Only members of congress can check out books from the library.
The public can access books on certain days, and certain hours. There are
limitations on what can be viewed and brought into the reading rooms. In order
to access so information an appointment has to be made ahead of time so a
librarian can access it for you. Citizens are required to obtain an access card
to enter the reading rooms.
On
the other hand the Library of Congress has become a tourist destination for
many citizens. Each day the library is visited by people all over the world and
tours are held. Tours provide access to rooms that are not always accessible to
the public and can give a good background for people trying to figure out the libraries
different rooms. Exhibits are displayed on large scales in the library. The
Thomas Jefferson building is the most popular for visitors because it is the
most grand, beautiful building and the architecture alone is worth the visit.
The
Library of Congress is a huge place, especially for visitors unfamiliar with
the buildings. The Thomas Jefferson building alone can taker you hours to tour
and it even contains an underground tunnel to the Capitol visitor center. The
possibilities are endless and the staff at the library knows this and has
developed some ways to help everyday people get the most out of their
experience.
When
I visited the Library of Congress a couple months ago for the first time I was
overwhelmed. Just finding the library itself proved to be difficult since
barriers are up since September 11th. When you reach the library,
and taxis tend to drop you off at the Thomas Jefferson building, you are
greeted by massive marble steps with views of Washington Monument and it is
incredible. When you enter the library that is when the new age of technology
hits you. The first thing I saw, after going through security, was a welcome
desk with some friendly volunteers ready to get you set up. They hand you a
passport and explain there are computers at each exhibit and you can use the
passport to save information you saw in the exhibit.
The
trick here is after you have gathered all the information you want on this
“passport” you can go home and by signing up on the Library Congress website
you can enter your barcode and view all the items, documents, pictures that you
had saved throughout your visit. This did not make too much sense to me until I
visited the first exhibit on Native Americans. There was a large room full of
audio displays, pictures, and maps, documents you can read. The exhibit was
called “Exploring the Early Americas,” displaying the Jay I. Kislak Collection.
(Library of Congress, 2009). Basically there was way too much information to
take in; over 3,000 items from the collection were displayed. I located a
computer, scanned in my barcode and the exhibit popped up on the screen
completely digitalized and organized in the same way as the physical exhibit. I
was able to check off the items I wanted and leave the items I didn’t alone and
when I got back home I could access everything I had saved. An incredible way
to share information with my friends, or use later in a report. I even was able
to save those exhibits I did not have time to see in as little as a minute and
view them at my leisure at home.
One
exhibit available to the public at this time is a display of Thomas Jefferson’s
original library that was sold in 1814. To give you an idea of how far the
library has come, collection wise, the Library of Congress has set up a
recreation of the books that created the original library. Using one room of
the Thomas Jefferson building, and it is not a rather large room compared to
others in the same building, the Jefferson collection is displayed in a
circular pattern using clear plastic so the books are viewable. The shelves of
books reach about 10-12 feet high and do not come close to touching the
ceiling. Since some of the original books perished in a fire many years ago the
books on display are represented in three categories. A red, green and white
ribbon is used to identify the actual original book, ones obtained close in
year to the original and the ones not able to be found but represented by a
blank black box with a title. It is an incredible sight to see a room of the
library not even filled half way with books that were used to start the whole
collection in the first place. The passport enabled you to view all the titles
of books that were in the original collection, which was great since it was
difficult to read some of the older books on display. The exhibit is called
“Thomas Jefferson’s Library,” Along the walls were information on books
Jefferson had collected as well as facts such as his recipe books containing
recipes for pasta and French fries, which he helped introduce to the America’s.
(Library of Congress, 2009).
The
Library of Congress has focused a great deal of time on a country study
program. The “Country Studies” makes information on certain countries
accessible and searchable. The idea behind the study is to give lesser-known
countries a spotlight to help broaden our horizons. Currently there are 101
countries recorded in the study but they are constantly working to add more and
continually update information (Boswell, 2009).
“Today
in History” is another great feature that the Library of Congress currently has
to offer. If you go to their website you can click on a link to tell you what
happened today in history. They will give you information on the topic or
person of importance for that day, for example Rosa Park was featured recently
as the topic of the day. She was arrested on the specific day and there was a
biography about her, songs and lyrics from the time period, quotes and
pictures. It is very interesting to see how life was so many years ago
(Boswell, 2009).
In
2007 the Library of Congress started their first blog. They use the blog to
keep people up to date on events happening, answer questions and discuss
interesting findings. The blog proved very popular and educational and a second
blog has been added. The new blog is focused on the science and business area
of the library. There are guest bloggers who speak about their specialties. The
main bloggers are the librarians and they help keep the people current on what
is happening in their area and any new findings or events (Raymond, 2009).
The
Library of Congress website is one of the most visited institutional sites in
the world. The website includes access to collections, catalogs and exhibits.
You can access legislation before Congress and information from the U.S.
Copyright Office (Kranich, 2001, p.179). With everything there is to see online
it makes each person a bit of a librarian, “I don’t know anything, but I can
find everything.” (Burns, 1998, p.24)
Libraries
are used for many purposes today, from schoolwork, a casual pastime, to
research for books and movies. With an ever-competing world and free access to
information, libraries can become a source of conflict. In 2006 the Smithsonian
libraries made an agreement with Showtime network to allow only them access to
certain records pertaining to the shows they were creating. This made the once
public information not accessible to the public. It was a way to help protect
Showtime and create less competition for similar movies, but it took away. The Library
of Congress is open to the public, but changes are happening everyday and it is
important that the collections remain open to all the public and bureaucracy
does not get in the way. Ken Burns made a statement on the limits of resources
for filmmakers stating,
“The
thing I appreciate, the thing I like to remind people, the thing that we need
to remember as a republic, is that these records are the DNA of who we are. And
libraries and archives are where we stow and encode what future generation will
interpret about us. I can’t imagine a better pursuit, I can’t imagine a better
place to spend a day, and I can’t imagine being able to thank those resources
enough” (Library of Congress. 2007, p.85).
One
way the Library of Congress is thinking of using technology to help preserve
and store their files is by grid tapping. San Diego Supercomputer Center has
developed a grid technology, which can help store and preserve data from the
Library of Congress. The grid technology is a new way for the information to be
stored without having it in one specific place. Martha Anderson, from the
Library of Congress explains the new idea saying, "All the digital data do
not need to reside in the same physical location to be accessible and
manageable by an institution charged with the mission of preserving and
managing access to that digital data” (Mayfield, K. 2002). The benefit of the grid technology is the
advancement of new technology will not hamper it; you can add new technology to
the old technology and still have access to it all. This will allow new data to
be added without having to lose any of the old data.
Libraries
have played an important role in America. When education became
institutionalized as an inalienable right, libraries became even more vital
then they were before. Public libraries and college libraries opened doors and
helped spread democracy through America. Libraries helped educate the public
and helped spread knowledge to improve the everyday voters education. The
government turned to libraries to help research new bills and find links to the
pass to learn from and solutions on how to improve our country. The Library of
Congress played a great role in improving the education of our country and
bringing the issues of democracy to the public. Franklin Roosevelt gave credit
to libraries stating,
“Libraries
are directly and immediately involved in the conflict which divides our world,
and for two reasons; first, because they are essential to the functioning of a
democratic society; second, because the contemporary conflict touches the
integrity of scholarship, the freedom of the mind, sand even the survival of
culture, and libraries are the great tools of scholarship, the great
repositories of culture, and the great symbols of the freedom of the mind” (Kranich,
2001, p.3).
Intellectual freedom has been an issue
in almost every library. The library of Congress is no different. When the
library first opened Spofford was faced with the challenge of what books to
allow and which to deny. He opted to allow for almost all books, despite
creating conflict with opposers. Equal access for everyone still remains an
issue today. In the age of technology there are many ways to access
information, yet not everyone is able to receive information in the same way. In
an age where some families have more technology then they can handle and “seven
percent of households still lack technology as simple as a telephone” (Kranich,
2001, p.17), there is a huge gap that needs to be addressed. There is no
solution on how the Library of Congress can provide equal access to all.
Congress gets benefits over everyone else at the library. Researchers get
priority to special collections. The general public has to wait in line to
receive a card to access the reading rooms of the library and from there gain
help to access other areas. The Library of Congress might be the largest
library in the United States, but it still has some issues it could resolve.
“[N]ot
until I stand before the judgment seat of God do I ever expect to see this building
transcended” (Conaway, 2000, p.89). The Library has come along way through the
years. Starting as just a small library for use only by members of congress, to
the nations largest library. The public has access to millions of books in the
physical library and worldwide by use of the Library of Congresses website. The
catalog system developed by the Library of Congress is used today in many other
libraries besides just the Library of Congress. Links to many university
libraries catalogs is available through the library of congress. By having
every book published added to the library, there is no end in sight to the
growth of information. The technology used at the Library of Congress is
extraordinary and makes the library into more than just a tourist site but also
as a learning center that people can take home the information they saw and
learn at their pace. Librarian of Congress Billington gave a speech at the
bicentennial of the library of Congress in 2000, stating “Congress can look
back with pride at its role as the greatest single patron of a library in the
history of civilization” (Kranich, 2001, p.181).
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