The Library of Congress

We can thank Thomas Jefferson for the U.S. Library of Congress (among other things). His personal library formed the nucleus for what is now 532 miles of shelves of material. The library’s website provides a wealth of information about what is available at the library—a schedule of in-house and web events, online databases, descriptions of special collections and more. The library has an extensive and growing digital collection (films, interviews, pictures, historical documents) available through this site, with astonishingly comprehensive resources in areas such as American history and culture, historic newspapers, and prints and photographs. Unbeknownst to many, the U.S. Copyright Office is part of the Library of Congress. Plenty of information is available regarding copyrights in general and how to register copyrights. And, if all this wasn’t enough, there is also a huge amount of information about Congress itself—especially pending and recent bills and the Congressional Record—for students of the workings of our elected representatives.