The international collections of the Library of Congress started
with the arrival of the Thomas Jefferson library in 1815.
Jefferson's 6,487 volumes, sold to Congress for $23,950,
expanded the scope of the Library far beyond the bounds of a
legislative resource. Jefferson was a man of encyclopedic
interests, and his library included works on architecture, the
arts, science, literature, and geography. It contained books in
French, Spanish, German, Latin, Greek, and one three-volume
statistical work in Russian. Jefferson believed that the
American legislature needed ideas and information on all
subjects and in many languages in order to govern a democracy.
His belief, reflected in the nature of his library, transformed
the Library of Congress. Today the Library's international
collections are unparalleled in many respects. Its collections
are comprehensive in scope and include research materials in
more than 450 languages and in many media. Approximately two-
thirds of the Library's books are in languages other