4 ms·

Wish they would stop using the library of congress' collection as a reference... I know it's big.. no idea how big.. it's not tangible to me.. never visited..

Wish they would stop using the library of congress' collection as a reference... I know it's big.. no idea how big.. it's not tangible to me.. never visited.. I'm sure most americans have not visited.

superuser2 11y ago
You do not get an idea of how big it is by visiting; the stacks are off limits and much of the material must be ordered in from suburban warehouses.
- semi-extrinsic 11y ago
  They probably also have most of the bookshelves on rails? The local uni library keeps their old books on a system like this, it's really quite cool. The room can fit, say, 54 bookshelves tight-packed with no room to enter anywhere. So they put 52 shelves in on rails, and between each pair there is a wire going across. Disconnect a wire between two shelves, and all the shelves slide apart so you can enter where you opened the wire.
  - superuser2 11y ago
    I'd estimate most university libraries have a system like this, though the "disconnect a wire" part is strange. Usually they're just a button on the shelf.
    - semi-extrinsic 11y ago
      I think the wire is a safety feature to avoid accidentally crushing people. If you try to disconnect a second wire, nothing happens, and you have to go find the first disconnected wire and reconnect it. Then you will see if there is still someone in there. (When you're finished in a row, you're supposed to reconnect behind you when you leave.)
tyingq 11y ago
This helped a little: "The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 162 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 38 million books and other print materials, 3.6 million recordings, 14 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 7.1 million pieces of sheet music and 70 million manuscripts."[1] [1] https://www.loc.gov/about/fascinating-facts/ https://www.loc.gov/about/fascinating-facts/

superuser2 11y ago

You do not get an idea of how big it is by visiting; the stacks are off limits and much of the material must be ordered in from suburban warehouses.

semi-extrinsic 11y ago
They probably also have most of the bookshelves on rails? The local uni library keeps their old books on a system like this, it's really quite cool. The room can fit, say, 54 bookshelves tight-packed with no room to enter anywhere. So they put 52 shelves in on rails, and between each pair there is a wire going across. Disconnect a wire between two shelves, and all the shelves slide apart so you can enter where you opened the wire.
- superuser2 11y ago
  I'd estimate most university libraries have a system like this, though the "disconnect a wire" part is strange. Usually they're just a button on the shelf.
  - semi-extrinsic 11y ago
    I think the wire is a safety feature to avoid accidentally crushing people. If you try to disconnect a second wire, nothing happens, and you have to go find the first disconnected wire and reconnect it. Then you will see if there is still someone in there. (When you're finished in a row, you're supposed to reconnect behind you when you leave.)

tyingq 11y ago

This helped a little: "The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 162 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 38 million books and other print materials, 3.6 million recordings, 14 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 7.1 million pieces of sheet music and 70 million manuscripts."[1] [1] https://www.loc.gov/about/fascinating-facts/ https://www.loc.gov/about/fascinating-facts/