Page:ABC of Library Science.pdf/20

NATIONAL LIBRARY It is also the duty of the government of a demo-- cratic country to establish national libraries. Cer- tain countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France, U.S.S.R. and India have national libraries and these libraries function as such in a general way. The Library of Congress, the National Library of the United States is the world's biggest library. It occupies two spacious buildings, covering six acres. The books and pamph- lets alone, which are more than 40 million, are stored on nearly 270 miles of bookshelves. Pneumatic tubes carry books from one building to another and electric book carriers take them from floor to floor.. The national institution serves not only the Congress but all government agencies and libraries and indi- viduals throughout the country. The chief objectives of a national library are: - 1. to accumulate and make available now and in the future everything published within the country and the best works published in other countries; 2. to compile and publish a national biblio- graphy an exhaustive list of all the publications in a country; 3. to supply information and materials to other libraries, institutions and indivi. duals throughout the country; 4. to aid formal instruction and to further research; 0 5. to organise centralized cataloguing includ... ing classification with unit card system