United States Senate Library facts for kids

The United States Senate Library is a special library that helps the United States Senate. Think of it as a huge collection of books and information just for the people who work in the Senate!

The library is managed by the United States Senate Librarian, who works under the Secretary of the Senate. Since 2009, Leona I. Faust has been the Senate Librarian. You can find the library in the Russell Senate Office Building in room SR-B15.

History of the Senate Library

How the Library Started

The Senate Library began a long time ago, during the second Congress (around 1791–1792). Senators needed a place to find important information, especially the laws from different states. So, they decided to create a collection of these laws in the Secretary's office.

Fires and Rebuilding Efforts

In its early days, the library faced some tough times, including two fires! The first fire happened in 1814 during the War of 1812. British soldiers attacked Washington and damaged Capitol Hill, where the library was.

To replace the lost books, Thomas Jefferson, a former president, offered his own huge private library. His 6,487 books became the start of the new Library of Congress. Then, in 1851, another fire destroyed most of the Library of Congress's collection. This made the Senate realize they needed to protect their own important documents. They decided to set aside a special space in the Capitol for the Senate Library and even installed strong steel shelves to help prevent future fire damage.

Growing the Collection

For many years, the Senate's chief clerks looked after the library's collection. This included printed bills (ideas for new laws), reports from committees, and other Senate papers. William Hickey, who was the Chief Clerk from 1855 to 1866, had been collecting many copies of every Senate document since 1824. He gathered a huge amount of information!

Hickey really wanted a proper library to organize and protect all these documents. Finally, on February 11, 1870, the Senate officially set aside three rooms in the Library of Congress for the Senate Library.

The First Librarian and New Homes

In 1871, George S. Wagner became the first Senate Librarian. His job was to organize Hickey's massive collection, as many of the old papers were quite fragile. By 1890, the library had grown to over 98,000 books and documents, and it was running out of space! Some very rare documents, including ones signed by George Washington, were stored in a damp basement.

In 1902, the library received money to build new steel storage shelves. This new storage area was in the Senate attic. Much later, in 1999, the Senate Library moved from the Capitol building to its current home in the Russell Senate Office Building.

What the Library Does Today

Who the Library Helps

The Senate Library is there to help current and former Senators, their staff, and other Senate leaders. Its main goal has changed over time. It used to be mostly about collecting documents. Now, it focuses on providing helpful information about laws, history, business, and general topics. The library aims to give accurate, quick, and fair information to everyone.

Materials and Services Available

The library has about 14,000 books on history, geography, biographies, politics, and law. Some of these books are very old, dating back to the early 1800s, and many were even signed by the authors! The Senate Library also receives the United States Congressional Serial Set, which is a collection of over 15,000 official reports and documents from Congress since 1817.

In 1975, the library added a special computer system to track the status of new laws. This service became very popular, with up to 80,000 calls a year! Today, the library helps as many people in one day as it did in a whole month back in 1964. This is because the number of Senate staff has grown a lot, from about 2,000 in 1964 to over 7,000 today.

The Senate Library has a reading room where people can study, special study desks, computers, and a center for scanning and microform (tiny images of documents). The library has over a million microform items! You can also take tours of the library, and they even deliver information to offices twice a day.

The library has a team of 22 staff members, including the Librarian and 13 other experts.