TheJoint Committee on the Library is aJoint Committee of the United States Congress devoted to the affairs and administration of theLibrary of Congress, which is the library of the federal legislature. There are five members of each house on thecommittee. It has nosubcommittees.

The committee was originally established in 1806 (House Journal. 1806. 9th Cong., 1st sess.,27 February.) to support the expansion of a congressional library. In 1811, the committee was officially made permanent. It is Congress's oldest continuing joint committee.^[1]

The Committee currently has oversight of the operations of the Library of Congress, as well as management of the congressional art collection, the National Statuary Hall Collection, and theUnited States Botanic Garden, but does not have legislative authority.

The committee is authorized to accept any work of thefine arts on behalf of Congress and designate a location in theUnited States Capitol for thework of art (pursuant to theRevised Statutes). This authority was expanded in 1875 to require that artwork that was not the property of the United States could not be displayed in the Capitol and that rooms in the Capitol cannot be used as private studios for works of art without written permission of the Committee. TheArchitect of the Capitol has the authority to enforce this provision.

On February 24, 1933, with the passage of House Concurrent Resolution No. 47, the Architect of the Capitol was authorized and directed to relocate within the Capitol any of the statues already received and placed in Statuary Hall, upon the approval of the Joint Committee on the Library, and to provide for the reception and location of statues received from the states. This provision was permanently enacted into law in 2000 in the legislative branch appropriations.

Membership consists of the chair and four Members of theSenate Committee on Rules and Administration, chair and three Members of theCommittee on House Administration and chair (or his designee) of theHouse Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch. The chair of the Committee alternates between the House and Senate every two years, at the start of a new Congress.^[2]

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(September 2025)

A list of former chairs/vice chairs and ranking members/vice ranking member since 1947 are below.^[3]

The following members currently serve on the Joint Committee on the Library for the118th United States Congress.

The117th United States Congress served from January 3, 2021, to January 3, 2023.

The116th United States Congress served from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2021.

The following members served on the Joint Committee on the Library for the116th United States Congress.^[5]

The115th United States Congress served from January 3, 2017, to January 3, 2019.

The following members served on the Joint Committee on the Library for the115th United States Congress.

The following resolutions were introduced for displayingfine arts in theUnited States Capitol during the115th United States Congress.

• Lads of Pest statue provided byHungary to commemorate the heroes of theHungarian Revolution of 1956 on the occasion of the Revolution's 60th anniversary (introduced in theHouse on 01/05/2017)^[8]
• Statue depictingHarriet Tubman provided by the Harriet Tubman Statue Commission of theState of Maryland (introduced in theSenate on 02/15/2017)^[9]
• Statue or bust depictingElie Wiesel (introduced in theHouse on 04/28/2017)^[10]
• Statue depictingPierre Charles L'Enfant provided by theDistrict of Columbia (introduced in theHouse on 07/12/2017)^[11]

The114th United States Congress served from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2017.

The following members served on the Joint Committee on the Library for the114th United States Congress.

The following resolutions were introduced for displayingfine arts in theUnited States Capitol during the114th United States Congress.

• Statue depictingPierre Charles L'Enfant provided by theDistrict of Columbia (introduced in theHouse on 06/18/2015 –no further action taken)^[15]
• Statue depictingHarriet Tubman provided by the Harriet Tubman Statue Commission of theState of Maryland (introduced in theHouse on 03/17/2016 –no further action taken)^[16]
• Statue or bust depictingElie Wiesel (introduced in theHouse on 07/08/2016 –no further action taken)^[17]
• Lads of Pest statue provided byHungary to commemorate the heroes of theHungarian Revolution of 1956 on the occasion of the Revolution's 60th anniversary (introduced in theHouse on 09/15/2016 –no further action taken)^[18]

The113th United States Congress served from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015.

The following members served on the Joint Committee on the Library for the113th United States Congress.

The following resolutions were introduced for displayingfine arts in theUnited States Capitol during the113th United States Congress.

• Statue depictingPierre Charles L'Enfant provided by theDistrict of Columbia (introduced in theHouse on 03/27/2014 –no further action taken)^[22]

• Senate members of the committee
• House members of the committee

• Library of Congress
• Joint committees of the United States Congress
• 1806 establishments in the United States

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