These three buildings provide nearly 65 acres of floor space. The john adams Building was added by Congress in 1939, and the james madison Memorial Building Soon the Capitol's library rooms, attics, and hallways were filled with the library's growing collections, necessitating construction of the library's first permanent building, the Thomas Jefferson Building, which opened in 1897. statutes, which Spofford parlayed into document exchanges with all foreign nations that had diplomatic relations with the United States. §§ 131–168d) the library's acquisitions included free copies of the Congressional Record and of all U.S. Spofford successfully advocated a change in the copyright law so that the library would receive two free copies of every book, map, chart, musical composition, engraving, print, and photograph submitted for copyright. In 1864 President abraham lincoln appointed as librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford, who opened the library to the public and greatly expanded its collections. The librarian of Congress is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. Congress voted a massive appropriation to replace the lost books, and by the end of the Civil War, the collections of the library had grown to 82,000 volumes. In 1851 a second fire destroyed two-thirds of the library's accumulated holdings of 35,000 volumes, including a substantial portion of the Jefferson library. The first major book collection acquired by Congress was the personal library of former president thomas jefferson, purchased in 1815 at a cost of $23,950. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had formerly served as the nation's capital), and for $5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress … and for putting up a suitable apartment for containing them therein." The library was housed in the new capitol until August 1814, when British troops invaded Washington, D.C., and burned the capitol building, destroying nearly three thousand volumes of the small congressional library. 56), which provided for the removal of the seat of government to the new capital city of Washington, D.C. The Library of Congress was created by Act of Ap(2 Stat. Founded in 1800 to serve the reference needs of Congress, the library has grown from an original collection of 6,487 books to a current accumulation of more than 16 million books and more than 120 million other items and collections, from ancient Chinese wood-block prints to compact discs. Its collections constitute the world's most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge. The Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C., is the world's largest library, with nearly 110 million items in almost every language and format stored on 532 miles of bookshelves.
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