LARGEST -- Library - Washington, DC
Posted by: 
bluesnote
N 38° 53.321 W 077° 00.280
18S E 326133 N 4306333
The world's largest collection of records is located across the street from the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Waymark Code: WM14YEZ
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 09/11/2021
Views: 7
The benchmark is located at the top of the dome, which can be seen from afar. Taken from Wikipedia, "The Library of Congress (LC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages."
Congress moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800 after holding sessions for 11 years in the temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. In both cities, members of the U.S. Congress had access to the sizable collections of the New York Society Library and the Library Company of Philadelphia. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s.
Most of the original collection was burnt by the British during the War of 1812, with the library beginning efforts to restore its collection in 1815. The library purchased Thomas Jefferson's entire personal collection of 6,487 books, and its collection slowly expanded in the following years, although it suffered another fire in its Capitol chambers in 1851. This destroyed a large amount of the collection, including many of Jefferson's books. After the American Civil War, the importance of the Library of Congress increased with its growth, and there was a campaign to purchase replacement copies for volumes that had been burned. The library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to deposit two copies of books, maps, illustrations, and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections. Its development culminated between 1888 and 1894 with the construction of its own separate, large library building across the street from the Capitol. Two additional buildings have been constructed nearby to hold collections and provide services, one in the 1930s and one in the 1970s.
The library's primary mission is to research inquiries made by members of Congress, which is carried out through the Congressional Research Service. It also houses and oversees the United States Copyright Office. The library is open to the public for research, although only high-ranking government officials and library employees may check out (i.e., remove from the premises) books and materials."
Taken from the website, "The world’s largest library, measured by catalogue size (number of items), is the US Library of Congress, which is based in Washington DC. Currently home to over 162 million items (and growing), and spread across approximately 838 miles of bookshelves, the collections include more than 38 million books and other print materials, 3.6 million recordings, 14 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 7.1 million pieces of sheet music and 70 million manuscripts.
The library adds approximately 12,000 items to its collections daily, the majority of which are received through the Copyright registration process. The Library’s Geography and Map Division holds more than 5.5 million items and is the world’s largest collection of cartographic materials."
Type of documentation of superlative status: Website
Location of coordinates: Building
Web Site: [Web Link]
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