SPECIAL ROOMS 112 THE BASEMENT 112 THE ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE AND PAINTING 113 THE FUNCTION OF A NATIONAL LIBRARY 123 [Illustration: MINERVA 1896 DESIGN FOR A MOSAIC BY ELIHU VEDDER CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY WASHINGTON] [Illustration: (decorative archway)] THE NEW LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IN WASHINGTON BY HERBERT SMALL The Library of Congress in Washington is not the mere reference library for the legislative branch of the Government that its name would imply. It is, in effect, the library of the whole American people, directly serving the interests of the entire country. It was, it is true, founded for the use of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives; but, although the original rule still holds good that only they and certain specified Government officials may take books away from the building,[1] the institution has developed, especially during the last quarter of a century, into a library as comprehensively national as the British Museum in London, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, or the Imperial Library in Vienna. It is more freely open to the public than any of these, everyone of suitable age being permitted to use its collections without the necessity of a ticket or formal permission, while in scope it is their equal, however much it may for the time being be inferior to them in certain branches of learning. Its aim in the accumulation of books is inclusive and not exclusive, as Mr. Spofford explains elsewhere in this Handbook, in his article on _The Function of a National Library_. This development amounts almost to a change of front, in spite of the fact that the original purpose of the Library as an aid to the legislation and debates of Congress has been fully preserved. The change has been brought about in many ways, but principally by the exchange system of the great governmental scientific bureau, the Smithsonian Institution, and by the operation of the national copyright law. The Smithsonian Institution issues each year a large number of scientific publications of the highest interest and importance. It distributes these throughout the world, receiving in exchange a body of scientific literature which comprehends practically everything of value issued by every scientific society of standing both in this country and abroad. With the exception of a small working library retained by the Smithsonian Institution for the immediate use of its officers, the splendid collection of material which has been gathered during the forty years in which this exchange system has been in operation is deposited in the Library of Congress, forming a scientific library unrivalled in this country.