Title 2, The CongressRelease 119-110
§171 Congressional Declaration of Findings and Purpose as to Center for the Book
Title 2 › CHAPTER 5 — LIBRARY OF CONGRESS › § 171
Summary
Creates a Center for the Book inside the Library of Congress to study how people pass on knowledge and to get more people interested in books and printing. Congress notes the Library began on April 24, 1800; it added President Jefferson’s library in 1815; it bought a Gutenberg Bible in 1930; laws and funding have made the library open to the public; the collection is now one of the world’s great libraries; and books and printing have been central to American learning and democracy. In 1977 Congress reaffirmed the need for this Center.
Full Legal Text
Title 2, §171
The Congress, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The Congress hereby finds and declares—
(1)that the Congress of the United States on April 24, 1800, established for itself a library of the Congress;
(2)that in 1815, the Congress purchased the personal library of the third President of the United States which contained materials on every science known to man and described such a collection as a “substratum of a great national library”;
(3)that the Congress of the United States in recognition of the importance of printing and its impact on America purchased the Gutenberg Bible in 1930 for the Nation for placement in the Library of Congress;
(4)that the Congress of the United States has through statute and appropriations made this library accessible to any member of the public;
(5)that this collection of books and other library materials has now become one of the greatest libraries in civilization;
(6)that the book and the printed word have had the most profound influence on American civilization and learning and have been the very foundation on which our democratic principles have survived through our two hundred-year history;
(7)that in the year 1977, the Congress of the United States assembled hereby declares its reaffirmation of the importance of the printed word and the book and recognizes the importance of a Center for the Book to the continued study and development of written record as central to our understanding of ourselves and our world.
It is therefore the purpose of sections 171 to 175 of this title to establish a Center for the Book in the Library of Congress to provide a program for the investigation of the transmission of human knowledge and to heighten public interest in the role of books and printing in the diffusion of this knowledge.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
2 U.S.C. § 171
Title 2, The Congress
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110