Library Of Congress (1968)

[Music] legislative reference service may I help you background material oh yes we have already worked up is that for today's hearing all right our senior specialist on foreign trade has already prepared some oh yes sir I understand I'll make it Rush let this is lrs the legislative reference service of the Library of Congress major research and informational Center for our nation's Congress here each day by phone by mail and by personal visit come nearly 1,000 requests calling for anything from a spot report to a detailed analysis taking anywhere from moments to months to fulfill information to assist members of the Senate and House of Representatives their staffs and the Committees of Congress in the performance of their legislative duties let us suppose that the Senate aeronautical and space science committee sends a request to one of the various divisions of lrs with specialists in every Major Field for background information on the subject of use of the Moon as a base for exploring space the task of meeting the request is assigned by the division chief of the science policy research division to an lrs senior specialist and several research assistance a representative of the law library is also present I have some things in the office I know that you'll want to look at well in summary the chairman of the committee of course will want a complete background study and uh our division will be concerned particularly with the engineering aspects but the chairman also is very much interested in the international implications what does it mean in terms of military Affairs uh what are some of the international treaties involved D and of course uh what are other countries uh thinking about in this regard well I think that's about it let's go to it can there be a moon station for man's Venture into space in the days and weeks that follow lrs researchers locate a host of relevant materials recent newspaper and magazine clippings on every area of space exploration State Department reports relating to International treaties technical papers of the national aeronautical and Space Administration as well as other government Publications the vast Law Library provides other answers precedents for international law of territories the effect of existing treaties that may relate to the law of space theories about space law the resources of every division of the law library are tapped each division Chief is consulted for leads to pertinent materials that may have even a slight bearing on the subject the vast resources of the Russian collection largest outside the Soviet Union are combed to determine that country's position on Space law what about communist China's Viewpoint well here is a space law article written by Chinese law professor I'll prepare a report for you using communist Chinese legal sources here is a Law Journal we have just received the main reading room is the Hub of the library here readers seeking books their public or university libraries lack search for them in the public catalog The lrs Specialist searches here too for other leads on his subject digging through thousands of reports in the library Science and Technology collection the contents of each reduced to microscopic size in most cases the entire report contained on a single card The lrs Specialist is able to review the current thinking of the world scientific Community to obtain a translation of a Japanese Treatise on Space The lrs Specialist seeks the aid of a member of the library's orientalia division the library's map collection is also a help containing maps and views of every area of the world from those anti-dating The Voyage of Columbus to satellite maps of planet Earth and for the first time in man's history a complete mapping of the Moon the Slavic collections of the library containing literature of peoples from vlasto on the Pacific to the rine in Western Europe is another research source in the legislative reference service materials accumulate finally a host of materials for digest and collation before preparing a study on use of the Moon as a base for exploring space a study that will involve Library of Congress specialists in many fields in Military and international Affairs in foreign languages experts on Space law on political science on every area of Space Science and in the production of the report the skills of a graphic artist at last after two months of concentrated work the end product one of more than 130,000 requests filled each year to assist members of Congress in the discharge of their legislative duties the services of the Library of Congress are also extended to The Scholar Jacob lman is a member of The Faculty of a Midwestern University at work on a biography of Francis Hopkinson a prominent figure of the American Revolution having exhausted the resources of other libraries Dr lman like thousands of other Scholars and students uses his summer vacation to do research in materials found only in the unique and tremendous collections of probably the world's largest Library Professor lon's first stop is the library's manuscript collection stored here are the personal papers of a multitude of public figures of the past including 23 of our nation's presidents primary source material for most historical research about the United States here Dr lman comes upon a genuine find a letter from Thomas Jefferson written in Paris to Francis Hopkinson the days pass in studying the numerous letters exchanged between George Washington and Hopkinson also reviewing microfilm of manuscripts in European archives and gradually the subject of Lan's biography Comes Alive Francis Hopkinson native of New Jersey member of the Continental Congress signer of the Declaration of Independence Merchant scientist musician poet satirist jurist a man of an amazing diversity of talents in the library's rare book collection Dr lman will uncover other fragments to add to the Mosaic of hopkinson's life here in Thomas Jefferson's private Library acquired by Congress in 1815 is found a satire sometimes called the first novel by an American Peter Grievous pseudonym for Francis Hopkinson poems by Francis Hopkinson and in his miscellaneous essays evidence of his talent as an inventor of his Lively and humorous Turn of Mind a scene in his essay advocating that the path of printed type should follow the sense of the author's ideas another Talent of Francis Hopkinson in an Episcopalian prayer book of colonial times Psalms set to music by him in the library's music collection among the world's greatest are found the works of Francis Hopkinson said to be America's first composer [Music] the huge pictorial collections of the Library of Congress provides another insight into hopkinson's Life and Times architectural drawings of his home built in Bordentown in 1750 surrounded by this wealth of Americana time for The Scholar passes quickly and soon the departure date for Jacob lman approaches elsewhere in the library other Scholars are also busy in the Hispanic Foundation collection a Latin American Scholar finds material on his own country that makes his long trip to the United States worthwhile in the library's unique collection of Motion Pictures dating back to the birth of the cinema art a motion picture producer finds one of the earliest color films made around the turn of the century with color applied by hand to each frame of the film using the library's vast newspaper and periodical collection dating back to the early 1700s a journalist is completing a study of coverage given by newspapers of the union and Confederacy to the Civil War Scholars working both in the library and AAR are able to take advantage of numerous Publications issued by the library including bibliographies technical literature a quarterly Journal there is still another service rendered to The Scholar by the library providing photocopies of materials in the library's many collections subject to copyright or other restrictions the services of the Library of Congress indirectly affect almost all of our people even the high school student whose home may be thousands of miles from Washington in every Library the keys to the accessibility of books and other materials are its catalog and its classification system all Library materials are cataloged by author by title and by subject many libraries use the Dewey Decimal classification system others the classification system of the Library of Congress to cope with the flood of printed materials more and more libraries make use of Library of Congress cataloging on the bottom of a catalog card is first the Library of Congress classification number next the Dewey Decimal number last the card number by which libraries everywhere can order cards from the Library of Congress thus behind the catalogs of books and thousands of school Community University and other libraries is the Library of Congress books and other materials from all over the world books in every written language acquired by the Library of Congress through its multitude of exchange agreements and purchase Arrangements through its reference Specialists combing lists of library Library materials from every corner of the globe through gifts today the Library of Congress has a number of overseas operations to secure and catalog Library materials of scholarly value in some cases materials for other major research libraries as well before they can be used they must be cataloged the Library of Congress has a staff of hundreds of professional multilingual catalogers producing the worksheets with which eventually are transformed into catalog cards the library also prepares the Dewey Decimal classification system for publication in a government printing office plant new catalog cards are produced millions of catalog cards for some 25,000 subscribers to the Library of Congress card service millions of orders for cards sorted and arranged by computer systems to speed this Mammoth job and get cards out to libraries faster millions of cards in stock to fill orders for the 75 million cards the library sells yearly its receipts going into the United States Treasury catalog cards on their way to libraries all over our nation a multi-million service undergoing full mechanization for a new day is Dawning in library science as benefits of computerized handling of Library data are made available to libraries throughout the country with cataloging data flowing from the Library of Congress to thousands of other libraries to be used for bibliographies catalog cards book catalogs book Pockets book cards book labels at home Jacob lman has received the galley proofs for his completed biography soon to be published now Dr lman will use still another service of the Library of Congress as he applies for copyright protection of his work each day the mail brings to the copyright office in the library over 1,000 applications for copyright registration along with copies of each work with much of this material becoming part of the library's own collections in this copyright catalog are some 25 million cards a history of America's creative accomplishments since 1870 of the millions of people who visit our nation's capital each year many come to the Library of Congress drawn by their knowledge that it is the repository of Our National Heritage the original drafts of some of our nation's most cherished documents carefully preserved are stored and displayed [Music] [Applause] [Music] here since it's Beginnings in 1800 the Library of Congress has continued to grow now a third building is planned though its books are loaned only to members of Congress to government agencies and to other libraries its research facilities are open to all adults seeking materials they cannot find elsewhere the library in many ways exerts a major force in promoting our nation's cultural and intellectual life the way I doubted if I should ever come back I should be telling this with a size somewhere ages and ages since two roads diverged in a wood and I I took the One Less Traveled by and that has made all the difference you [Music] 1869 David Copperfield chapter 1 I am born whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life or whether that station will be held by anybody else these Pages must show to begin my life with the beginning of my life I record that I was born as I've been informed and Believe on a Friday [Music] the light of knowledge shed by the Library of Congress leader of America's Library World shines brightly created by the founding fathers as a legislative library today the Library of Congress serves all of our people not only by assisting our Congress but by serving also as the National Library of the United States [Music]