Tag Archives: Library of Congress

Henriette Avram and the modern library catalog

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In the late 1960s, the Library of Congress started work on two major achievements. The massive National Union Catalog Pre-1956 Imprints eventually reached 754 volumes and took 130 feet of shelf space. Computerizing library cataloging soon rendered it obsolete. Henriette Avram, who never went to library school, led the team that devised MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging). The primary purpose in developing MARC was to automate printing library catalog cards, but Avram and her team also intended it for libraries to be able to print their lists of  new acquisitions. The Library of Congress supplied card sets for its entire holdings to any American library that ordered them. That saved libraries the expense of cataloging those materials themselves. Avram did not envision putting the entire library catalog online and making cards obsolete, but her work made it possible. In fact, MARC enabled the online public access catalog, which saves so much time and space. Patrons had to visit the library at times when it was open in order to use it. Now, anyone with internet service can use the catalog and interact with it without leaving home. Or use it anywhere in the library without leaving where they’re working. The MARC … Continue reading →

Ainsworth Rand Spofford and the modern Library of Congress

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The Library of Congress started as just that, a library for the use of members of Congress. It occupied space in the Capitol building. Now, of course, it is the national library with buildings of its own. Ainsworth Rand Spofford, the sixth Librarian of Congress, made it happen. Throughout the 19th century, the Librarian of Congress was simply a political appointment. Only one of the first five had any kind of literary background. That one could have turned the Library of Congress into a national library.  Unfortunately, he lacked the political competence to match his vision. Spofford followed perhaps the worst qualified of all Librarians of Congress. His early career gave him wonderful qualifications, political skill, and patience. He needed it all.

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The Federal Cylinder Project: preservation of a fragile collection

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Thomas Edison’s wax cylinder recording machine first became commercially available in 1888. Almost immediately, researchers used it to study folk culture. Although disc recorders eventually supplanted the cylinders, thousands of cylinders preserved the only record of many important projects. By the 1970s, many had begun to deteriorate. The American Folklife Center initiated the Federal Cylinder Project in 1979.

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New Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden

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Revised In 2016, Carla Hayden was sworn in as only the 14th Librarian of Congress in history. Most news reports emphasizes that she was the first woman and the first African-American to hold that position. Those are important milestones to be sure, but attention to them obscures some others. Carla Hayden is The first Librarian of Congress with a limited term of appointment Only the third professional librarian appointed to the position. Fully backed by the American Library Association (ALA), which opposed some of her predecessors.

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The Library of Congress Turns a Page

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The Librarian of Congress is not an official who makes the news often, but the current Librarian of Congress, James Billington, announced his retirement last June. President Obama will appoint the next Librarian of Congress, becoming only the 10th President in history to have that opportunity. Billington was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1987. You know that the Library of Congress is the library, well, of Congress. Congress created a library for its own use very early in the nation’s history. But it has become more than that. It’s America’s unofficial national library. It affects the workings of every other library in the country. And you can use it without leaving home through its website

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