The uses of a great national collection of books are so manifold
and far-reaching that it is difficult to sum them up in any
succinct statement. The Library at Washington, steadily growing
for generations, was founded primarily for the use and reference
of Congress. As the library of our national legislature, whose
responsible labors cover the wide field of domestic welfare and
foreign relations; it should contain all that can contribute to their
service and information. This being its primary function, and a great
and comprehensive library having been thus gathered, a far wider
field of usefulness is found in opening its treasures freely to the
public. Gathered as it has been by appropriations of public money,
supplemented for more than a quarter of a century by the steady
acquisitions coming in under copyright law, it has become to a degree
the representative of American science, and the conservatory of the
Nation’s literature. As the only Government library of comprehensive
range, every year of its existence should be marked by incessant
progress toward completeness in every department. In the new and
splendid home for the Nation’s books provided by the far-sighted
liberality of Congress, readers whose pursuits are endlessly varied
should be assured of finding the best literature of all lands. It is
a fact pregnant with meaning that the nations which possess the most
extensive libraries maintain the foremost rank in civilization.
The universality of its range and of its usefulness should not lead
any to overlook the fact that it is, first of all, the Library of
Congress. Here, at the political capital of the country, the Senators
and Representatives who are responsible for the legislation of
seventy millions of people are assembled. In dealing with the wide
range of interests involved, there is almost no knowledge which may
not at some time be wanted, or which can come amiss. Here are settled
or modified the principles of the internal economy and foreign policy
of the Nation. Here resort the innumerable promoters of local, or
individual, or corporate, or State, or Territorial, or National, or
foreign interests, all of whose propositions are to be examined,
weighed, and brought to the test of reason, precedent, justice, and
facts of record. Here are apportioned those expenditures of public
money which carry on the Government and tend to the development of
the country. Here questions of internal revenue and tariff taxation,
public land policy, the pension system, patents, copyrights, postal
service, agriculture, education, Indian policy, internal commerce,
immigration and naturalization, the fisheries, merchant shipping, the
army, the navy, the coast survey, the civil service, the public debt,
the whole financial system, and the people’s measure of value, are
discussed and settled. In the vast and complicated system involved
in a government so complex as the American, where State rights and
Federal supremacy are constantly brought in question, Congress and
its Committees are taxed with responsibilities which demand the
widest political, historical, and judicial knowledge. Only a library
of completely encyclopædic range, filled with books and periodicals
which illustrate every subject, and throw light upon the history and
policy of every nation, is adequate to equip them for their work.
In like manner, the Supreme Court and the other courts of the United
States, established at the Seat of Government, the Interstate
Commerce Commission, and the tribunals frequently created to consider
and report upon questions of national or international importance,
require and receive the constant aid of the rich assemblage of
authorities here gathered. It was found that more than two-thirds of
the books relating to Venezuela and its border-countries of South
America, needed for reference by the Venezuelan Commission, were in
the Library of Congress.
Not less important and valuable is the service rendered by this
Library to all the Departments and Bureaus of the Government.
Questions frequently arise requiring investigations so broad and
extensive as to overtax the stores of even the largest library to
supply all the information sought for.
To a National Library which is, in some degree, the intellectual
centre of a great capital, resort numberless seekers after books and
information. Here is found the busy journalist, turning over files
of forgotten, but carefully preserved newspapers, to ascertain or to
verify facts, dates, or opinions. Here the Senator or Representative
seeks and finds precedents and illustrations, authorities and legal
decisions, parliamentary history and the experience of nations, to
embody in his reports, or apt citations and poetic gems to adorn his
speeches. Hither come the students of history, American and foreign,
assured of finding the chronicles that illustrate every period, early
or recent, in whatever language. Here are found devotees of art,
studying the manuals or the histories of painting and sculpture, or
the engraved galleries of Europe, for examples of the beautiful.
Hither come the architect, the mechanic and the engineer, in search
of designs, of models, or of patents, or of some book which contains
the last word in electrical science. Here, too, come professional men
of every class, lawyers after leading cases, clergymen investigating
commentaries or religious homilies, physicians reading medical or
surgical or hygienic treatises, teachers and professors striving to
add to their learning. The readers in the wide and attractive fields
of literature are still more numerous than those who pursue the
graver walks of science. Here, the vast number and variety of works
of fiction have their full quota of absorbed readers. The enthusiasts
of poetry and drama follow close upon, and the student of biography
finds no end of memoirs that are equally full of entertainment and
instruction. Essays and criticism enlist the attention of many,
while many more find their delight in the perusal of voyages and
travels. Here the eager student of metaphysics or moral science
feeds his intellect upon the great masters of human thought, and
the man ambitious of great reforms busies himself over the books
on social science. Here comes the student of natural science in
quest of botany, zoölogy, or the other kingdoms of nature, and the
politician searches after the arguments and the history of parties.
Here the zealous grubber after facts of genealogy burrows among
endless tables of family births, deaths, and marriages, and the ever
present investigator of heraldry traces the blazonry of crests and
coats-of-arms. Here frequent the feminine searchers after costumes,
fanciful or historical, and here the lovers of music resort to feed
their sense of harmony upon the scores of the great composers. The
student of oratory revels in the masterpieces of ancient or modern
eloquence, and the lover of classic lore luxuriates in the pages of
Greek or Roman poets, philosophers, or historians. The law of nations
(that undiscoverable science) engages the baffled researches of some,
while many others pursue, through a world of controversial writings,
the knotty problems of finance. Some readers visit the Library for
prolonged and serious and fruitful investigation--others for only
momentary purpose to verify a quotation, or to settle a wager about
the origin, the meaning, or the orthography of a word. Many books
have been written, and many more have been edited or corrected, by
the aid of the copious stores of every great library.
To respond adequately to all these and countless more demands upon
its intellectual resources, a National Library must clearly be one
of universal range. This comprehensive aim for the National Library
will appear still more important when it is considered that it is,
in effect, the only really representative library of the nation.
Not that other collections (and many of them, let us hope) are not
equally far-reaching in their scope and their aim at completeness;
but the Government Library being the only one endowed with the
full copyright production of the country, its law of growth is
necessarily in advance of that of other collections, however well
endowed--provided only that adequate care be taken by Congress for
its proper increase in other directions. The copyright law brings
into it, year by year, virtually the entire intellectual product of
the nation so far as protected by copyright; as well as a steadily
increasing share (since the extension of the area of copyright
protection through the international provisions of the act of 1891)
of the works of foreign authors. Thus the National Library acquires
a great store of publications which the other libraries do without,
from lack of means, or of room, or of disposition to purchase.
It is easy to say that the greater part of the books and periodicals
thus acquired are trash; but it is to be considered that very
substantial reasons can be urged why one library should preserve
the entire product of the American press, irrespective of intrinsic
value. First, every nation should have, at its capital city, all the
books that its authors have produced, in perpetual evidence of its
literary history and progress--or retrogression, as the case may be.
Secondly, this complete assemblage of our literature in the Library
of the Government (that is, of the whole people) is an inestimable
boon to authors and publishers, many of whose books, after years
have elapsed, may owe to such a collection their sole chance of
preservation. Thirdly, it is a most valuable aid to would-be writers
to have access to all the works that have been published in the
special field they seek to cultivate. Fourthly, one comprehensive
library--inclusive and not exclusive--should exist, because all other
libraries must be in a greater or less degree exclusive. Fifthly,
all American books should be preserved as models--even if many
of them are models to be avoided. One learns as much frequently
from the failures of others, as from their successes. Sixthly, it
is already provided by law (and very wisely), that all copyright
publications of whatever character, shall be deposited in the Library
of Congress, and the Nation is as much bound to conserve these
things, in evidence of copyright, as to preserve the models in the
Patent Office, in evidence of patent right. Seventhly, there is no
standard of selection or of exclusion that could be adopted which
would stand against the fact of the endlessly varying judgments of
different men, or even of the same men at different periods. What is
pronounced trash to-day may have an unexpected value hereafter, and
the unconsidered trifles of the press of the nineteenth century may
prove highly curious and interesting to the twentieth, as examples of
what the ancestors of the men of that day wrote and thought about.
Of course it should be one of the foremost aims of our National
Library to secure all books, pamphlets, maps and periodicals relating
to our own country. Everything that can illustrate the discovery,
settlement, history, biography, natural history, or resources of
America should be gathered. The already rich collection of Americana
comprises a large share of the earlier works respecting America,
nearly all of which are now rare, as well as of the early printed
books of the various American presses, and many published in places
where no books are now printed. Assiduous pains have been taken to
increase these collections from auctions and from sale catalogues in
this country and in Europe.
Another function of the Library of the Nation is to furnish a
repository for special collections of books, manuscripts, and
memorials, which may be dedicated by their donors to public use. Now,
for the first time, the Government of the United States is placed in
a position where it can receive and preserve in a fitting manner,
in a noble fireproof edifice, of ample proportions, such gifts of
private libraries, etc., as any of its citizens may present. One such
donation, from a public-spirited citizen of Washington, the late Dr.
J. M. Toner, has already been presented and accepted by Congress.
It is to be expected that the example will be followed by other
collectors of private libraries, who feel a natural reluctance that
their collections of special value, costing years of time and much
money to assemble, should be scattered abroad after they have ceased
to enjoy them, leaving no memorial behind.
In this connection it should be noted that the National Library
furnishes the most obvious and appropriate repository for special
collections of manuscripts. When organized into departments, the
systematic collection, arrangement, and preservation of manuscripts,
with calendars both alphabetical and chronological, open to public
use, will form one of the cardinal objects to be kept in view. This
too long-neglected field, though zealously cultivated by the leading
historical societies of the country, has had no proper recognition
at the hands of the American Government. While the manuscript papers
of four American Presidents have been purchased, because offered
to Congress by their heirs, no attempt to obtain and preserve
those of the other Presidents has been made, nor has any fund been
devoted by Congress to secure the papers of other public men. All
the principal nations of Europe, and even the Dominion of Canada,
have an archivist, or custodian of manuscripts, responsible for
keeping, indexing, and increasing these collections, whose importance
as original documents illustrating the history and biography of
the nation can hardly be overrated. To avail of all opportunities
offered for securing such manuscript collections, and to seek out
others, thus preserving for posterity unique and valuable historical
materials which would otherwise remain in private hands, subject to
constant diminution or destruction, should be one cardinal function
of the National Library. Many such would be freely given by their
owners, if assured of permanent care and preservation in that
institution.
The acquisition and preservation of pamphlet and periodical
literature should be sedulously cultivated by National Libraries.
No fact is more familiar to students than the rapid disappearance
of these ephemeral but often valuable publications. The chances of
procuring any desired pamphlet a few months after its publication are
incalculably smaller than those of securing copies of any book. Hence
the importance of adding them to the one representative library of
the Nation while they are yet fresh and procurable. As this species
of literature is seldom protected by copyright, the greater portion
of the pamphlets of any period must remain unrepresented in the
Government Library unless their authors will take the trouble, by
wise forethought, to send copies of their productions to Washington.
Of the great value of pamphlets, as exponents of the thought of the
time, and the questions which agitate the public mind, expressed
frequently in condensed and forcible style, there can be no question.
Of the periodical literature, in its vast extent and variety, now
including, in the United States alone, more than twenty thousand
different publications, a National Library should acquire and
preserve the more important portions. These, in the absence of any
possibility of providing room for all, may be held to embrace (1)
All American reviews and magazines, with a selection of the leading
English and European ones. (2) The daily newspapers of the larger
cities of the country, and a few, at least, of the principal journals
of England and the Continent, not forgetting the American republics,
and Canada. (3) Two, at least, of the most widely circulated journals
of each State and Territory in the Union, representing each political
party. This has been the established policy of the Library for thirty
years past, and the bound files of these periodicals constitute one
of the most largely used portions of the Library. Only by keeping
up full sets of the notable serials, whether literary, political,
religious, historical, scientific, legal, medical, technical,
agricultural, economic, etc., can the Library answer the just demands
of the national legislature and of the public. In whatever direction
American libraries may be inferior to those of other and older
nations, they are (at least in the larger collections) well equipped
with the literature of periodicals. The materials thus furnished to
the politician, the historical writer, or the student of literature,
are of great and incalculable value. A National Library is not for
one generation alone, but for all time. So much the more important
is its function of handing down to the readers and students of the
future a full and authentic mirror of each age in its progressive
growth, to be found most vividly in the pages of the daily and
weekly journals, and the magazines and reviews of every class. These
periodicals furnish the best impress of the times which can be
derived from any single source. Stored up in a permanent fireproof
repository, they are ever ready to be drawn upon by those who know
how to use them.
One little known and imperfectly understood function of the National
Library is to furnish evidence of literary property to all who are
interested in copyrights. This is rendered possible through the
removal to Washington, by the copyright act of 1870, of all original
records of copyright, previously scattered in more than forty
different offices throughout the various States. The registry of
copyrights having been transferred to the Librarian of Congress,
at the same time, and continued ever since, it is easy to follow
out the record of any individual copyright, and thus to trace
questions concerning literary property for more than a century.
This facility is of great value to publishers and authors, in the
various negotiations constantly being made in questions of renewal
of the terms of copyrights expiring, or in suits at law seeking to
establish or to invalidate copyrights by litigation, or to prevent
infringement. Incident to this, it is a part of the function of the
Library to produce any copyright book, or other publication in its
possession, for inspection by whom ever it may concern.
An incidental benefit of the Library is found in its rich
accumulation of works of the fine arts. These include, besides the
multitude of illustrations and galleries to be found in books,
hundreds of thousands of examples of graphic art, many of them
costly and valuable, acquired by copyright. Arranged in classes, in
the spacious art-gallery provided, they form a most instructive and
entertaining exhibit of the progress of the arts of design.
Of the numerous and beautiful works of art embraced in the decoration
of the Library building, full account is taken elsewhere in the
present volume. Suffice it to say here, that readers and frequenters
of the Library who are surrounded with such architectural and
artistic attractions, will find rich suggestions on every hand, as
they pursue their several aims. What more inspiring adjuncts to study
or contemplation can exist than the sumptuous marble arches, the
statues of illustrious authors, the graphic paintings and sculptured
emblems illustrative of science, literature, and art, and the many
inscriptions drawn from the writings of the great scholars of the
world? The stately Library building with its precious contents thus
contributes not only to the public intelligence, but also to elevate
and to refine the public taste.
While every consideration favors the most liberal hours of
frequentation and use of the collection, it is manifestly not a
proper function of a National Library to furnish a circulating
library for the people of the city in which it is located. All
experience proves that a great library of reference cannot be made
a library of general circulation without destroying its function
as a reference library. Every frequenter of the National Library
has a right to expect that the books it contains will be found when
called for. This is impossible if a large portion of them are out
in circulation. Nor can this be met by the claim that duplicates
would enable the Library to loan freely. There are no more than
enough duplicates to meet the uses of members of Congress who have
the legal privilege of drawing books. Moreover, the few who would
be convenienced by the loaning out of the books would be favored
only to the inconvenience of the many, who would find very many of
them continually absent from the shelves. The greatest good of the
greatest number would thus be unjustly sacrificed.
The suggestion has been made that one of the two copies of books
received by copyright might be utilized for the purposes of
circulation. This is conclusively met by the fact that the copyright
deposits are a trust under the law, like the models in the Patent
Office, and while one copy may properly be kept in the Library, for
the use of Congress and for public reference, the other should be
sedulously preserved in the copyright archives. All comers, however,
have free enjoyment of the benefits of this great Library within its
attractive walls, and are welcomed by its liberal management to share
its literary, scientific, and artistic treasures.