[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 80 (Monday, June 1, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5903-S5904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO DR. JAMES H. BILLINGTON

  Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Madam President, I join with Senator Lisa 
Murkowski, to convey heartfelt good wishes to Dr. James H. Billington, 
the Librarian of Congress, who will celebrate his 80th birthday on June 
1.
  Dr. Billington was educated in the public schools in the Philadephia 
area and was valedictorian at Princeton University before pursuing his 
doctorate at Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Following 
service in the Army he taught history at Harvard and Princeton. From 
1973-1987, he was director of the Woodrow Wilson School for 
International Scholars where he founded the Kennan Institute for 
Advanced Russian Studies. He is a well-known scholar of Russia, has 
authored six books on Russian history, accompanied 10 congressional 
delegations to Russia and the former Soviet Union, and received more 
than 40 honorary doctorates from around the world.
  In 1987 James Billington was nominated to be the 13th Librarian of 
Congress by President Reagan and was confirmed for that position by the 
Senate. From the day he took over the Library of Congress, he has 
vigorously pursued his vision for the Library and its future: to 
continue to acquire and preserve materials for its unparalleled 
collections and make them available to Congress, the American people 
and the world. Dr. Billington has a phrase for this, ``to get the 
champagne out of the bottle.'' His aim from the beginning has been to 
share the riches of the world's largest collection of knowledge with 
ever broader audiences and to translate this wisdom into a catalyst for 
civilization.
  Early in his tenure, even before the digital revolution, Dr. 
Billington saw the need to use new information technologies to get 
content out to users around the country so that the Library of Congress 
would not simply become a ``warehouse of information.'' Through 
initiatives such as the pioneering American Memory Project created in 
1990 he saw to it that the rich American history collections of the 
Library were available in new ways to a wider audience, culminating in 
1995 with millions of digital items posted on the Web through the 
National Digital Library. The Library of Congress, through its National 
Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, led an 
ongoing effort with partner institutions to collect and preserve 
digital materials that would otherwise disappear. The Library is also 
leading the way in getting more than 15 million of its rich primary 
source materials out online to K-12 educators throughout the nation. In 
1995 Dr.

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Billington proposed to UNESCO formation of a World Digital Library to 
gather an online collection of significant primary materials from 
cultures around the world which was officially launched in seven 
languages in Paris last month with the Library, UNESCO, and more than 
30 partner institutions around the world.
  Dr. Billington has been a prodigious private fundraiser for the 
Library's programs. In 1990 he formed the Madison Council whose members 
have raised nearly $400 million for the Library which has been well 
used to support scholarly studies such as the Kluge Center and some 300 
stimulating and popular exhibitions such as the Vatican Library, 
American Treasures, Lewis and Clark, and the recent Lincoln 
Bicentennial. A major accomplishment was the creation of the Packard 
Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation achieved through a public/private 
partnership with the Packard Humanities Institute for archiving and 
preservation of the Library's massive collection of audio visual 
material.
  Jim Billington has presided over an increase of more than 50 million 
items in the Library's collections which now total nearly 140 million. 
He has also ensured that the Library's valuable multiple format 
collections are preserved for future generations and enhanced the 
security of staff, researchers, and visitors.
  It was Dr. Billington's far sighted initiative in 1999 to bring young 
leaders to the United States from Russia to learn practical skills 
through exposure to America's democratic government and free market 
system. Since then through the Open World Program more than 14,000 
current and future leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and 
Uzbekistan have experienced our democracy and community life gaining 
new ideas for implementing change in their countries and fostering 
cooperation with the United States.
  These are just a few of the many accomplishments that Jim Billington 
has made both to the Library of Congress and the Nation. His energy, 
enthusiasm and vision for a knowledge based democracy and the life of 
the mind are commendable and he is still going strong at 80. We wish 
him a happy birthday.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I offer my best wishes to the 
Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, who just celebrated his 
80th birthday.
  Dr. Billington became the Librarian of Congress in 1987 after being 
nominated by President Reagan and confirmed by the Senate. If you read 
his confirmation testimony closely you can see the seeds for the 
direction he wanted to take the Library of Congress. It was Dr. 
Billington's vision for what the Library of Congress could be for 
current and future generations and his effective management that 
steered that great institution into the digital age. Because of his 
leadership, the Library today collects a diversity of material in both 
conventional and digital formats. Dr. Billington refers to this as 
``adding without subtracting,'' and it is now a model for archival 
institutions. But simply collecting and preserving this material is not 
enough. It was his insistence, through programs such as the National 
Digital Library and World Digital Library, that this goldmine of 
information be shared much more widely with researchers, educators, and 
the general public both here on Capitol Hill and online via the 
Library's renowned Web site that makes it so useful.
  I know how much Jim Billington reveres the Library's role of service 
to Congress and the American people. He works tirelessly to attract 
Members to visit the Library. It has been my pleasure to co-host with 
him several dinners in recent years for my colleagues which gave them a 
clearance to see some of the incomparable Library of Congress exhibits, 
such as Creating the U.S., Jefferson's Library, and Winston Churchill, 
in the magnificent surroundings of the Jefferson Building.
  Formation of the Madison Council, the Library's first ever 
philanthropic and advisory body, was Dr. Billington's idea which he 
carried out with great energy and success. The Madison Council has been 
invaluable in bringing priceless collections to the Library and 
augmenting appropriated funding.
  Finally, I applaud Dr. Billington for instituting and cosponsoring 
with First Lady Laura Bush the National Book Festival since 2001, in 
which I have had the good fortune of participating as an author. The 
National Book Festival, modeled on the Texas Book Festival initiated in 
the 1990s by Laura Bush, has been a very popular annual event in 
Washington and has done much to promote reading and the creativity of 
America's writers.
  Jim Billington is truly a national treasure. He is a man of great 
intellect and leadership. I want to thank him for all he has done at 
the Library of Congress and throughout his long career of public 
service. I am happy to call him my friend, and I wish him all the best 
on his 80th birthday.
  I yield the floor.

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