Official name of the country:
United States of America
Official language: English
Official name of Parliament: Congress of
the United States
-Bicameral -
Member of the Inter-Parliamentary
Union
- Official names of Chambers:
Senate (1)
Member of the ASGP
House of Representatives (2)
Member of the ASGP
2. Address
Congressional Research Service
Library of Congress
10 First Street, S.E.
Washington, DC 20540-7000
Tel.: *(1)(202)7075775
Fax: *(1)(202)7072615
Telex: TWX 7108330185
E-mail:
dmulhollan@crs.loc.gov
3. Details
on the Library
Year of foundation: 1800
Person in charge: Mr James H.
Billington; Mr Daniel MULHOLLAN
Position or official title: Librarian
of Congress; Director, Congressional Research Service
Number of library staff: 767 (for CRS
only)
Number of professional librarians:
110
Number of research and subject analyst staff
in the Library: 444 (including 28 administrators who are
also qualified as subject analysts)
Number of secretarial and support
staff: 198
Number of other staff: 15 (automation
specialists)
Size of collection: 110.000.000 (for
Library of Congress)
Number of annual accessions:
3.400.000
Annual acquisitions budget: 7.040.000
US$ (General Collection); 6.632.000 US$ (Law Library)
Number of current periodicals:
75.000
Periodicals indexed for relevant
articles: Yes, by CRS
Number of periodicals which are currently
indexed for articles: 1.100
Number of periodical articles indexed per
year: 10.000
Number of current newspapers:
1.420
Press cuttings: Yes, by CRS
Indexing of Parliamentary Papers: A
number of Congressional documents are indexed, but not by the
Library of Congress or the Congressional Research Service. For
example, the Congressional record
is transcribed by the Official Reporters of Debates and indexed by
the Congressional Record Index Office. This office is part of the
Government Printing Office and is under the direction of the Joint
Committee on Printing. The transcripts of committee hearings are
provided by the official Reporters to Committees or a private
transcription company. Each committee in the House and Senate does
its own indexing of committee hearings
Library in charge of the archival materials
of the Parliament: No, papers of the Congress go to the
National Archive
Library uses a thesaurus or a classification
system for subject indexing: Classification system (Library
of Congress); thesaurus (CRS)
Automation of cataloguing: Yes
Is the automated library catalogue
accessible as an online catalogue to outside users?:
Yes
Clientele: The Library of Congress,
including the Law Library of Congress serves all researchers over
18 years old. CRS, however, serves exclusively Members of Congress,
their staff, and committees
Number of reading rooms: 6 (114)
(CRS)
Number of loans per year: 44.000
(circulated to Congressional offices)
Reference services: 600.000
Current bibliographies: 74
Retrospective subject bibliographies:
313
External database searches: 12.000 -
15.000 + 150.000 - 200.000 inhouse database searches
Analysis and research: Yes, by
CRS
Other special services: Seminars,
institutes and training: 412 events, 11.762 participants;
in-person briefings and consultations: 4.868 CRS staff
participants;
translations
Right to deposit: Full depository
status for the Library of Congress which receives serials and
books, films, maps, tv and radio broadcasts, computer software and
CD-ROMs, recorded sound and music, musical scores and sheet music,
posters, architectural drawings, arts, manuscripts
Depository library: US Government
Printing Office, UN, EU and other IGOs
Other special collections of the
Library: Special collections (by Division): African and
Middle Eastern, American Folklife Center, Archive of Folk Culture,
Asian, European, General Reading Rooms, Geography and Map,
Hispanic, Law Library, Manuscript, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and
Recorded Sound, Music, Prints and Photographs, Rare Book and
Special Collections, Science and Technology, Serial and Government
Publications
Any other information: Part of the
Library of Congress is the CRS with its own library (105.000 vols.,
5.069 periodicals and a selecting depository library for US
Government publications). The CRS serves as the principal research
and policy analysis arm of the Congress. The 767 authorized
positions include all staff engaged in research and policy
analysis, reference and information services, legislative
documentation and administrative support
IFLA membership: Yes
4. Publications published by the Congressional Research
Service
Congressional Research
Service review
Professional journal issued 10 times per year
* Digest of public general
bills and resolutions
Published during each session of Congress in two cumulative issues,
with occasional supplements, and a final edition of the conclusion
of the session
Major legislation of the
Congress
Published approximately two times during a Congress (a two-year
period). - Summaries of Congressional issues and the major
legislation introduced in response to them
Guide to CRS
products
Quarterly. - Restricted circulation
- Update to the Guide to CRS
products
Monthly. - Restricted circulation
Weekly update
Weekly. - Restricted circulation
5. Publications concerning the Congressional Research
Service and the
Library of Congress
Guide to the Library of
Congress. - Washington, DC : LC, 1988. - 119 p.
Annual report of the
Librarian of Congress for fiscal year 19.. - Washington,
DC
* Annual report of the
Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress for
fiscal year 19.. - Washington, DC : Congressional Research
Service
Robinson, William H.:
Building a parliamentary research
capability // In: Soviet and East European parliamentary
libraries at the dawn of the post-communist era. - Bonn, 1991. - p.
99 - 124
ISBN 3-89372-009-X
The Bowker annual of
library and book trade information. - New York : R.R.
Bowker
Has a section on Library of Congress activities written by various
authors each year
Cole, John Y.:
For Congress and the nation : a
chronological history of the Library of Congress. - Washington, DC
: US Govt. Print. Off., 1979
Goodrum, Charles A.:
The Library of Congress / Charles
A. Goodrum and Helen W. Dalrymple. - Boulder : Westview Press,
1982. - 338 p.
Howard, Evelyn:
The Congressional Research Service.
- Washington, 1994 (CRS report ; 94-691)
6. Parliamentary documents
Congress
* Congressional
record
Proceedings and debates of the US Congress
* Hearings, reports and
prints of the Committees of the House and Senate
Senate
* Standing rules of the
Senate and Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of
1974 : as amended. - Washington : US Govt. Print. Off.,
1987. - 135 p. - (Senate Doc. ; 100-4)
* Gilfry, Henry H.:
Senate precedents. - Washington :
US Govt. Print. Off., 1914. - 711 p.
Riddick, Floyd M.:
Senate procedure : precedents and
practices. - Revised ed. - Washington : US Govt. Print. Off., 1992.
- 1608 p. - (Senate Doc. ; 101-28)
* Slack, Lana:
Senate manual / Lana Slack and
James King. - Washington : US Govt. Print. Off., 1988. - 927 p. -
(Senate Doc. ; 100-1)
House of Representatives
Anderson, Donnald K.:
Rules of the House of
Representatives. - Washington : Office of the Clerk of the
House of Representatives, 1989. - 33 p.
Brown, William Holmes:
The Constitution, Jefferson's manual, and
rules of the House of Representatives. - Washington : US
Govt. Print. Off., 1993. - 1257 p. (House Doc. ; 102-405)
* Cannon, Clarence:
Cannon's procedure in the House of
Representatives. - Washington : US Govt. Print. Off., 1963.
- 542 p. - (House Doc. ; 87-610)
* Deschler, Lewis:
Deschler's precedents of the US House of
Representatives. - Washington : US Govt. Print. Off., 1977.
- 8 vols. to date
(House Doc. ; 94-661)
More volumes are anticipated
* Deschler, Lewis:
Procedure in the US House of
Representatives / Lewis Deschler and William Holmes Brown. -
Washington : US Govt. Print. Off., 1982. - 852 p.
1987 supplement : annotations of the precedents of the House for
the 97th, 98th, and 99th Congresses. - 178 p.
* Hinds, Asher:
Hinds' and Cannon's precedents of the
House of Representatives / Asher Hinds and Clarence Cannon.
- Washington : US Govt. Print. Off., 1907 and 1936. - 11 vols.
(updated in June 1995)
