Top 10 Fascinating Facts About the Library of Congress You Didn't Know!

1. The Hungry Library

Step right up, folks, and witness the Herculean appetite of the literary world's hungriest behemoth, forever devouring new morsels to sate its insatiable bibliophilic desires: The Library of Congress chows down on a whopping 15,000 items each working day, adding more than 10,000 of them to its belly, which now stores a gargantuan collection of over 173 million items!
Source => loc.gov

2. Enchanting LCCN

Step right up and behold the magical numerology at work in the grand Library of Congress: they mystically assign a unique Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) to books published in the United States through their Preassigned Control Number (PCN) Program. This enchanting number not only aids librarians in locating a book within the national databases but also serves as a pre-publication boon to eligible U.S. authors and publishers – all the while keeping an air of mystery as there's no guarantee of a catalog record for books that don't make it into the Library's permanent collection.
Source => loc.gov

Did you know that Elvis Presley once offered his services as a Federal Agent to President Nixon to fight drug abuse and Communist brainwashing? Discover the story behind this bizarre piece of history!

=> Fun Facts about The-National-Archives

3. Copyright Party Trivia

Next time you're at a party, why not impress your friends with your knowledge of copyright trivia - a surefire way to be the life of the shindig: The Library of Congress' Copyright Office boasts a catalog with almost 45 million individual cards, chronicling America's creative legacy from 1870 to 1977. This immense collection aids in offering public information services and promoting better copyright protection for our beloved U.S. masterpieces, both domestically and abroad!
Source => en.wikipedia.org

4. Jefferson's Unusual Arrangement

Jefferson's Library or Lord Bacon's Paperback Penthouse?: Contrary to alphabetical ho-hum, Thomas Jefferson's personal library was arranged by subject using Lord Bacon's table of science, and the Founding Father even went so far as to shelve books by size. This oddly satisfying assortment, offered to Congress in 1815 to replace the Library of Congress' burnt collection, consisted of around 9 to 10,000 volumes; although, a more modest haul of 6,487 books made the final purchase cut due to worries about some items' non-essential nature.
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5. Bookish Shopping Spree

In a classic case of "you don't know what you've got till it's gone," the Library of Congress unleashed its rather bookish version of a shopping spree back in 1851: Following a devastating fire that wiped out a majority of its collection, Congress approved an impressive $168,700 budget focused on restocking those dearly departed books and materials. While this was sure to raise some librarians' eyebrows, the Library of Congress now boasts a collection of over 170 million items, standing proud as one of the largest and most significant libraries in the world.
Source => accessible-archives.com

6. Majestic Children's Collection

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, where books were king and bedtime stories reigned supreme, a majestic collection was born: The Library of Congress' Rare Book and Special Collections Division holds one of the largest and most incredible troves of rare American children's literature, boasting over 18,000 volumes from the early 18th century and featuring classic wordsmiths like Louisa May Alcott, Horatio Alger Jr., and Jacob Abbott, all thanks to big-hearted donors like J.K. Lilly Jr. and Frank J. Hogan.
Source => loc.gov

7. Cartographic Treasures

Ahoy, cartography lovers and map maniacs! It's time to embark on a journey through the hallowed halls of the Library of Congress, armed only with your compass and a thirst for cartographic conquest: Within its mighty collection lie treasures aplenty, including rare 18th and 19th century Japanese maps, Civil War relics, and countless renditions of lands yet to be discovered, with the total number of maps surpassing even the library's millions-strong collections of photographs and recordings.
Source => loc.gov

8. Old Dog, New Tricks

Whoever said "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" clearly never met the Library of Congress Classification system: a century-old system designed in 1897 specifically for the then 1.5 million volumes at the Library that now thrives online, complete with 21 main classes of knowledge represented by capital letters – from A to Z (minus the elusive W, X, and Y) – and continues to expand, allowing any curious mind the pleasure of classification indulgence for free in PDF format.
Source => librarianshipstudies.com

9. Female Filmmaker Showcase

Hold on to your popcorn, movie buffs, because the Library of Congress has been rolling out the red carpet for female filmmakers since '88: Over 80 films directed or co-directed by women have been added to the National Film Registry since its establishment in 1988, showcasing the femme-tastic talent behind the camera in Hollywood's finest productions.
Source => loc.gov

10. All-You-Can-Eat Knowledge Buffet

If the Library of Congress were a buffet, it would be an all-you-can-eat feast of knowledge that's bigger than your brain can stomach: Currently, only 74 terabytes of their content is digitized and available online, a small morsel compared to their vast physical collection of 142 million items, which includes everything from books to maps and even globes! Though they're actively digitizing more, it would still take decades to scan and serve up the entire library for your digital consumption.
Source => blogs.loc.gov