The national lLibrary of Congress in the U.S. It was established by the U.S. Congress in 1800 and is on Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C. It now haouses more than 115 million books. iIt is the second largest library in the world, by shelf space and number of books,; the largest being The British Library. The library receives two copies of every US work published in the U.S. with a copyright.