The Library of Congress was established under the law approved April 24, 1800 (2 Stat. 56), appropriating $5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress...." The Library's scope of responsibility has been widened by subsequent legislation (2 U.S.C. 131-168d). The Librarian, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, directs the Library.

Supported mainly by the appropriations of Congress, the Library also has the use of the income from funds received from foundations and other private sources and administered by the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board; it has the use also of gifts of money presented for direct application (2 U.S.C. 154-163).

Under the organic law, the Library's first responsibility is service to Congress. One department, the Congressional Research Service, functions exclusively for the legislative branch of the Government. As the Library has developed, its range of service has come to include the entire governmental establishment in all its branches and the public at large, so that it has become a national library for the United States.

Activities

Collections The Library's extensive collections are universal in scope. They include books and pamphlets on every subject and in a multitude of languages. Among them are the most

comprehensive collections of Chinese, Japanese, and Russian language books outside Asia and the Soviet Union;

volumes relating to science and legal materials outstanding for American and foreign law; the world's largest collection of published aeronautical literature; and the most extensive collection in the Western Hemisphere of books printed before 1501 A.D.

The manuscript collections relate to manifold aspects of American history and civilization and include the personal papers of most of the Presidents from George Washington through Calvin Coolidge. The music collections contain volumes and pieces-manuscript and published from classic works to the newest popular compositions. Other materials available for research include maps and views; photographic records from the daguerreotype to the latest news photo; recordings, including folksongs and other music, speeches, and poetry readings; prints, drawings, and posters; government documents, newspapers, and periodicals from all over the world; and motion pictures, microforms, and audio and video tapes. Reference Resources Admission to the various research facilities of the Library is free. No introduction or credentials are required for persons over high school age who wish to read in the general reading rooms; however, certain collections, like those of the Manuscript, Rare Book and Special Collections, and Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Divisions, can be used only by those with a serious purpose for doing so. As demands for service to Congress and Federal Government agencies permit, limited reference service is available through correspondence. The Library must, however, decline some requests with the suggestion that a library within the correspondent's area can provide satisfactory assistance. While priority is given to inquiries pertaining to its holdings of special materials or to subjects in which its resources are unique, the Library does attempt to provide helpful responses to all inquirers. Copyrights Since 1870 the Library has been responsible for copyrights, which are now registered by the Copyright Office (acts of July 8, 1870 (16 Stat. 212-217), February 19, 1897 (29 Stat.

545), March 4, 1909, as codified and amended, and October 19, 1976 (90 Stat. 2541)). All copyrightable works, whether published or unpublished, are subject to a system of statutory protection that gives the copyright owner certain exclusive rights, including the right to reproduce the copyrighted work and distribute it to the public by sale, rental, lease, or lending. Works of authorship include books, periodicals, and other literary works, musical compositions, song lyrics, dramas and dramatico-musical compositions, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, pantomimes and choreographic works, motion pictures and other audiovisual works, and sound recordings. Extension of Service The Library extends its service through:

-an interlibrary loan system; -the photoduplication, at reasonable cost, of books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, and prints in its collections;

-the sale of sound recordings, which are released by its Recording Laboratory; -the exchange of duplicates with other institutions;

-the sale of printed catalog cards and magnetic tapes and the publication in book format or microform of cumulative catalogs, which make available the results of the expert bibliographical and cataloging work of its technical personnel;

-a centralized cataloging program whereby the Library of Congress acquires material published all over the world, catalogs it promptly, and distributes cataloging information in machinereadable form as well as by printed cards and other means to the Nation's libraries; -a cooperative cataloging program whereby the cataloging of data, by name authority and bibliographic records, prepared by other libraries becomes part of the Library of Congress data base and is distributed through the MARC Distribution Service;

-a cataloging-in-publication program in cooperation with American publishers for printing cataloging information in current books;

-the National Serials Data Program, a national center that maintains a record of

serial titles to which International
Standard Serial Numbers have been
assigned and serves, with this file, as the
United States Register; and

-the development of general schemes
of classification (Library of Congress and
Dewey Decimal), subject headings, and
cataloging, embracing the entire field of
printed matter.

Furthermore, the Library provides for:
-the preparation of bibliographical
lists responsive to the needs of
Government and research;

-the maintenance and the publication
of The National Union Catalogs and
other cooperative publications;

-the publication of catalogs,
bibliographical guides, and lists, and of
texts of original manu.cripts and rare
books in the Library of Congress;

-the circulation in traveling exhibits of
items from the Library's collections; and
-the provision of books in raised type
and "talking book" records, as well as
books on tape, for the blind and the
physically handicapped through 150
cooperating libraries throughout the
United States.

American Folklife Center The Center,
which was established in the Library of
Congress by act of January 2, 1976 (20
U.S.C. 2102 et seq.), has a coordinative
function both in and outside the Federal
Establishment to carry out appropriate
programs to support, preserve, and
present American folklife through such
activities as the collection and
maintenance of archives, scholarly
research, field projects, performances,
exhibitions, festivals, workshops,
publications, and audiovisual

presentations. The Center is directed by a
Board of Trustees consisting of four
members appointed by the President
from Federal agencies, four each
appointed by the President pro tempore
of the Senate and the Speaker of the
House from private life, and five ex
officio members: the Librarian of
Congress, the Secretary of the

Smithsonian Institution, the Chairmen of
the National Endowment for the Arts and
the National Endowment for the
Humanities, and the Director of the
Center.

The Center has conducted a number
of projects in many locations across the
country, such as the ethnic communities
of Chicago, IL; southern Georgia; a
ranching community in northern Nevada;
the Blue Ridge Parkway in southern
Virginia and northern North Carolina;
and the States of New Jersey, Rhode
Island, and Montana. The projects have
provided large collections of recordings
and photographs, which are being
incorporated into the Library's
collections. The Center administers the
Federal Cylinder Project, which is
charged with preserving and
disseminating music and oral traditions
recorded on wax cylinders dating from
the late 1800's to the early 1940's. The
Cultural Conservation Study was
developed at the Center, in cooperation
with the Department of the Interior,
pursuant to a congressional mandate.
Various conferences, workshops, and
symposia are given throughout the year.
A series of outdoor concerts of
traditional music are scheduled monthly
at the Library, April through September.
The Folklife Center News, a quarterly
newsletter, and other informational
publications are available upon request.
The Government Printing Office sells
additional Center publications, including
the Folklife Annual and catalogs
produced by the Federal Cylinder
Project.

Archive of Folk Culture, a subdivision
of the American Folklife Center,
maintains and administers an extensive
collection of folk music and lore in
published and unpublished forms. It is a
national repository for folk-related
recordings, manuscripts, and other
materials. The Archive's reading room
contains over 3,500 books and
periodicals; a sizable collection of
magazines, newsletters, unpublished
theses, and dissertations; field notes; and
many textual and some musical
transcriptions and recordings.

For further information, call 202-707-6590.
Center for the Book The Center was
established in the Library of Congress by
act of October 17, 1977 (2 U.S.C. 171
et seq.), to provide a program for