Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the unofficial national library of the United States. With over 128 million items, it is the second largest library in the history of the world, surpassed only by the British Library, which contains over 150 million items. With over 530 miles of shelves, the Library of Congress certainly is the longest library in the world. Its collections include more than 28 million cataloged books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 50 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America, including a Gutenberg Bible; and the world's largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.

Using the Library

The library is open to the general public for academic research, and runs tours for visitors. Only those who are issued a Reader Identification Card may enter the reading rooms and access the collection. The Reader Identifcation Card is available in the Madison building to persons who are over 18 years of age upon presentation of a government issued picture identification (e.g., driver's license, State ID card, Passport). However, only members of Congress, their staff and certain other government officials can actually check out books.

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