Jeff Fortenberry: “When I learned of the death of my very close friend, Dr. James Billington, the 13th Librarian of Congress, it hit me…”

“When I learned of the death of my very close friend, Dr. James Billington, the 13th Librarian of Congress, it hit me pretty hard. That was about 3 weeks ago. Dr. Billington's passion for the institution that he led for 28 years, his scholarly nature, and his gentlemanly demeanor were a tremendous inspiration to me and to so many Members of this body. I so admired him. First, I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to Marjorie and the entire family. May God grant him peace. During his 28 years at the Library of Congress, from 1987 to 2015, Dr. James Billington led the institution in a remarkable period of accomplishment. He once referred to the Library of Congress--I like to call it America's Library--as the largest, most wide-ranging collection of world-recorded knowledge ever assembled on our planet. He strove mightily to preserve the Nation's cultural patrimony and open the Library's collections to the American people and to people around the world. Dr. Billington doubled the size of the Library's holdings to more than 160 million items, including books, manuscripts, newspapers, maps, music and film recordings, and prints and photographs.…”