Library of Congress (film)

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Movie
Original title Library of Congress
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1945
length 20 minutes
Rod
Director Alexander Hammid
camera Peter Glushanok
occupation

Ralph Bellamy : Narrator

Library of Congress is a 1945 American documentary short film directed by Alexander Hammid . The film, made by the United States Office of War Information , was nominated for an Oscar in 1946.

Library of Congress at the beginning of the 20th century

content

The film deals with the Library of Congress , its tasks, its history and its importance. The LoC is the publicly accessible research library of the Congress of the United States, which is spread over several buildings in Washington, DC is located.

The film opens in a small town in Virginia . A book bus is on its way and a little boy wants to know from the librarian what the word “copyright” means. He not only receives an explanation, but also a comprehensive answer about the purpose and functionality of a library. Information is also provided about copyrights and the safekeeping of copyrighted material. When the film was made, the library had about six million books, plus film footage and similar material.

Excerpts from newsreels are shown in which, among others, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson or well-known musicians can be seen. The documentation also deals with the internal processes and processes in the LoC. A huge card catalog is used to find a specific book. You can then watch the interesting process of how books are called up and gone crazy. It is also mentioned that the library's holdings include the largest collection of rare books in North America, including a Gutenberg Bible and Adolf Hitler's book collection.

background

The Library of Congress is the second largest in terms of media holdings, the largest in terms of book holdings, and one of the most important libraries in the world. She works closely with the Congressional Research Service . It was founded in April 1800 as a research library for the US Congress. With more than 155 million media units, it is the second largest library in the world after the British Library in London, which houses more than 170 million media. The LoC catalog is an important bibliographic source for university libraries.

Award

literature

  • Ian Aitken: Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film 3-Volume Set OWI, p. 1009

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Library of Congress at letterboxd.com