Tina Barry, age 13, of Shreveport, La., for her question:
WHERE IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST LIBRARY?
The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., is probably the largest library in the world. This gigantic center of information contains more than 75 million items, including books, journals, music, films, maps and photographs.
Since 1870, the library has received two free copies of every book copyrighted in the United States. The U.S. Copyright Office is a department of the library.
There are more than 20 million books and pamphlets on file in the Library of Congress.
Included is the largest collection of "incunabula" in the Western Hemisphere. Incunabula are books printed before 1500. This collection has about 5,600 books, including a perfect copy of the Gutenberg Bible, generally considered to be the first book printed from movable type.
There are other great libraries worldwide, but only a few can equal the Library of Congress. Ranking near it are the national libraries of Great Britain and France. Each of these world centers of scholarship contains millions of volumes. Other world famous libraries include those at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England and the University of Paris in France.
Another of the world's largest and most valuable libraries is the one in the Vatican, which houses one of the most valuable collections of early manuscripts. This library, like many other major institutions, is open to scholars from all parts of the world.
A number of major libraries can also be found in Russia. The Lenin State Library in Moscow is one of the world's largest. In addition, Russia has about 370,000 other libraries, far more than any other country in the world. About 127,000 of them are public libraries.
The U.S. Congress established the Library of Congress in 1800. As a way of starting the new library, Congress appropriated $5,000 to buy books and furnish a room in the Capitol building.
The first Library of Congress was destroyed in 1814 when the British burned the Capitol. But Congress immediately began building up a new library in the rebuilt Capitol.
In 1815, Congress purchased the private library of Thomas Jefferson, which had about 6,000 books. This was added to the growing collection.
By 1897, the Library of Congress had grown so large that it could no longer be housed in the Capitol. The library moved to a new building east of the Capitol.
In 1938, an annex of white Georgia marble was constructed on an adjoining site. Together, the two buildings had about 36 acres of floor space and covered 13 acres of ground.
The library has continued to grow at a tremendous rate. In 1965, Congress authorized the construction of a third building, the Library of Congress James Madison Memorial Building.