Library of Congress

The Library of Congress on Capitol Hill is the largest library in the world.  It houses more than 170 million items, of which in excess of 39 million are catalogued books and other print materials.  It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and is home to the U.S. Copyright Office.  It occupies three buildings, including the Thomas Jefferson Building since 1897.   It was born of the sale to the U.S. Congress by Thomas Jefferson of his private collection of about 6500 books, after extensive negotiations in 1814-15.  Jefferson did not bargain hard on price, leaving the value to Congress and estimators.  In a vote that could have presaged petty party line machinations of today, approval of purchase as a whole in the House of Representatives was granted by a relatively tight 81-71 margi…