LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

The Library of Congress in Washington DC is the national library of the United State of America and the research center for the Library of Congress. The US Library of Congress is located in three separate buildings at 101 Independence Ave, SE. Free public tours of the library are offered on a first come first serve basis.

The library houses a collection of more than 30 million books and papers in more than 450 languages, as well as the largest rare books collection in North America.

The US Library of Congress Web site also has multiple programs and resources for children, families, librarians, publishers and teachers that wish to visit, use or learn from their collection.

Other notable aspects of the library’s collection:

• 58 million manuscripts
• Gutenberg Bible 
• Over 1 million US Government publications
• 1 million issues of world newspapers
• 33,000 bound newspaper volumes
• 500,000 microfilm reels
• Over 6,000 different comic book titles
• The world's largest collection of legal materials
• 4.8 million maps
• 2.7 million sound recordings

Library hours vary. Tours are given every hour on the hours between 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday–Friday and on Saturday at 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, and 2:30. The tours depart from the Visitor’s Center on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building.