Is There Anything Good About Taxes?

ClipsOnline

With April 15th looming, it's really hard to see anything good about paying taxes.  But, of course, we know we need the resources provided by our firemen, our police officers, our social agencies, and other worthwhile, tax-funded services.

And  there's another way in which our tax contributions benefit all of us-one that might not readily come to mind.

According to the Library of Congress recap below, here's another way that our tax money helps everyone. Check out the list of interesting sites included.

"Treasures of the Library of Congress: Your Tax Dollars at Work for the Common Good"
(All derived from www.loc.gov 2013)

"Just as one is wondering what good all of our combined taxes might be doing, consider this: According to James H. Billington, the 13th Librarian of Congress in 213 years, and a Pennsylvania boy, “The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It has become the largest repository of recorded knowledge in the world and a symbol of the vital connection between knowledge and democracy. Its collections contain millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts.

The Library's mission is to support the Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people.”

Today's Library of Congress is an unparalleled world resource. The collection of more than 151 million items includes more than 34.5 million cataloged books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 66.6 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America; and the world's largest collection of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.

The Library's collection building activities cover virtually every discipline and field of study and include the entire range of different forms of publication and media for recording and storing knowledge. The Library has worked to develop richly representative collections in all fields, except technical agriculture and clinical medicine, which are the collection responsibilities of the National Agricultural Library and the National Library of Medicine, respectively.

This is one place where there is virtually and really something for everyone. So once your returns are filed with Uncle Sam, take some time to enjoy some of the people’s treasures suggested below which have accrued to America’s Library."

The Collections
http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/colls.html

LOC Publications
http://www.loc.gov/loc/pub/

LOC for Families
http://www.loc.gov/families/

LOC Interactive Activities
http://myloc.gov/Education/OnlineActivities/Pages/onlineactivities/jeffersonsecrets/index.html

Digital Collections
http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html

The Magna Carta
http://www.loc.gov/loc/legacy/hl020001.jpg

The Librarian of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/about/librarianoffice/

Library of Congress Home
http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Check out the Education/OnlineActivities site.  It has great activities for teachers or any adults andchildren. Those of us who have just read Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power will enjoy the featured activity on hidden secrets.

(Our thanks to Penny for sending us the Library of Congress information.  We all know about this national resource, but not many understand the vast holdings financed by out tax dollars.)

Library of Congress (ClipsOnline)

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