SECTION 8 

 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IN RELATION TO RESEARCH 



By Martin A. Roberts 



INTRODUCTION 



The broad definition of research adopted for the pur- ture, the Geological Survey in geology, and the Sur- 



pose of its inquiry by the National Resources Com- geon General's office in medicine and surgery. The 



iiiittee covers the '■'■ collect ion as well as the hiterpreta- Library of Congress recognizes this by abstaining from 



tion of data." The services of the Library of Congress unnecessary competition in these fiehls. And with the 



fall into both of these categories, and will be considered exception of a percentage of the District of Columbia 



below under three heads — I, the collections; II, the Public Library, practically all is material of research 



facilitating apparatus; and III, the interpretation. value. 



If one were to consider the abilities of the Library Since there is no single overhead authority, our Fed- 



of Congress and the other libraries of the District of eral Government holding no such control over the edu- 



Columbia — governmental and institutional — one must cational or research institutions of the United States, 



of course begin with their resources in material, now as many European governments do over the institutions 



numbering in excess of 12,000,000 volumes, including of their respective areas, it is difficult to coordinate the 



as it does the collections surpassing in their fields — De- research here with the university, college, and large 



partment of Agriculture in the literature of agricul- public library research elsewhere in the United States. 



L MATERIALS FOR RESEARCH: THE COLLECTIONS 



The collections of the Library of Congress are now essential and is planned. The disposition and number 



probably the largest (numerically) possessed by any by classes are (1937) as follows: 



library. They have been assembled by (1) the opera- Class: 



tion of the copyright laws, which make the deposit of A (poij-graphy) 149,200 



copies essential to copyright registration; (2) pur- B-BJ (philosopby) 44,600 



chase; (3) gift and bequest ; (4) exchange; (5) transfer ^^^^ (religion) 165,500 



'\'* V , • ^ )n[ ^ -i- C-D (history, exclusive Of American) 280,300 



from Other governmental _ agencies, and (6) deposit ^_^ (American history) 231,500 



pending permanent accession. G (geography) 57,700 



H-J (Social and political sciences) 855,100 



The General Classified Collections of L (education) 142, 7C0 



Printed Books M (music) 65,300 



These include some 3,4'i^9,0(X) volumes. As a whole „ ,, ""17-1 "7 7 on,^' c:^-. 



' ' . . P (language and literature) 329,500 



encj-clopaedic, the collections are preeminent in Amen- p2 (fiction in English) 136,200 



can history and politics, bibliography and library Q (science) 258, 20i> 



science, publications of learned societies, public docu- R (medicine) 108,500 



ments (State, Federal, and foreiiin), files of American ^ (agriculture) 120,100 



,,^. ' ' . , r of^nnn l ■ T (technology) 231,700 



and foreign newspapers (including 95,000 volumes in ^ (military science) 47 300 



bound form), maps and atlases; eminent in law, eco- v (naval science) 33,700 



nomics, political science, religion, technology, aeronau- ^ (bibliography) 151,000 



tics, and the sciences. They are rejaresentative of sub- ncuna u a, e c 



stantially the whole of American book publication for xhe Rare Book Room 



the period since 1870, with somewhat less completeness rr^i -r. -r. i x. i. , ■ i n , 



J. ^, • 1 , • i ii i 1 ^ / 1 1 lie Kare iJook Koom, a tocus to which are drawn the 



tor the period anterior to that date (accessions due to ^. . ,. ^^^ -^ p ,i , ,, 



• 1 ^^ r.r.^ ■ ,. „„ X \,,, most interesting or valuable items oi the general coUec- 



copyright, 33,000 pieces for 1930- They are repre- ^-^^^^^ j^^^ ^ catalogue of about 70,000 items, including 



sentative also of the most important part of world book ^^^^^ ^^^^ editions, rare bindings, some 25,000 early 



production in the Roman alphabet (purchases for 1937, American pamphlets, over 1,500 volumes of 18th cen- 



20,000 volumes; for gifts and purchases en bloc, see tury American newspapers (one of the two foremost 



the heading, "Special Collections"). In everything of such collections), and more than 4,600 15th century 



that pertains to the work of Congress, completeness is books. 



235 



