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April 24, 2007
Happy Birthday, Library of Congress
The Library of Congress was officially established on April 24th, 1800. It is currently spread over three buildings in Washington, D.C. It is the largest library in the world. Librarians of Congress must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. It is only on it's 13th Librarian of Congress, James J. Billington.
The mission of the Library of Congress is: "The Library's mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations." A worthy mission it is.
Oddly, while Mr. Billington is clearly a bright and educated man, he is not actually a librarian -- he doesn't have the necessary Master's degree! Many of the other 12 Librarians of Congress had degrees and were involved in library administration before their appointment, though Mr. Billington was not. It is interesting to me that the only librarian in the nation with a capital "L" has always been a man -- what does that say about our profession and our nation? In my opinion, it's the librarians in the "trenches," struggling to keep up with information and technology overload, balancing our work and our families, and working within a budget to keep our buildings and our collections strong -- these are the people who are librarians with a capital "L!"
Posted by Michele at April 24, 2007 3:58 PM
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