Entry tags:

history, library science

Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress
Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress: For Congress, the Nation & the World

John Y. Cole and Jane Aiken, Editors.

Published by the Library of Congress, in association with Bernan Press, 2004.

This is an 8.5" by 11" hardbound book running to 569 pages including the bibliography, index, and statistical appendices, plus a portfolio of photographs of the Thomas Jefferson Building, a preface, an introduction, and acknowledgements. The book is printed on slick, high-quality paper and weighs a ton. It's a very official-looking book.

Besides being a thorough encyclopedia of the Library of Congress, this book testifies to the advantages of books over websites even for some reference purposes. Its fourteen broad essays and 79 encyclopedic articles provide a much deeper understanding of the workings and history of the LoC than their website, which is good mainly for basic facts needed by users of the Library's services.

The fourteen articles in the first section are:

• America's Library: A Brief History of the Library of Congress
  
• The Congressional Research Service
  
• The Law Library and Collections
  
• The Copyright Office
  
• The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
  
• The International Role of the Library of Congress
  
• The National Digital Library and the Library's Electronic Resources
  
• The Library of Congress and Its Digital Future
  
• The Library of Congress and Scholarship
  
• The Library of Congress and American Librarianship
  
• The Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution: A Legislated Relationship
  
• The Library of Congress and the National Archives
  
• American Literature and the Library of Congress: A Personal Perspective
  
• The Library of Congress in Fiction and Film
  

Among the encyclopedia entries are articles on Acquisitions, the Adams Building, the African and Middle Eastern Division and Collections, the American Folklife Center and Collections, Americana, the Asian Division and Collections, Automation, John James Beckley, the Bibliography Division, James H. Billington, Daniel Boorstin, etc. These articles are considerably long for encyclopedia entries, and go into a lot of historical depth.

This is the definitive book on the Library of Congress as a whole.

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