![Interior of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda](images/support.jpg)
Interior of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda - Carol Highsmith
Serving Congress is the Library's highest priority, particularly in the area of legislative support. During the year, the Library provided Congress with current research and analysis relevant to the war on terrorism, homeland security and other issues of national and international concern.
During the year, Congress called on the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for objective and authoritative research and analysis on significant and far-reaching public policy issues such as the continuing concern with the war on terrorism and the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Supreme Court nominations and the federal response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2005 CRS delivered 906,000 research responses to members of Congress and committees. Developed solely for use by Congress and congressional staff members, the Legislative Information System (LIS) continued to provide access to information on past and current legislation through all facets of the lawmaking process. The LIS received a wide array of display enhancements to its nine databases to coincide with the start of the 109th Congress.
The Law Library provided Congress with comprehensive international, comparative and foreign law research based on the most current information available from the world's largest law library comprising 2.5 million items. During the year, the Law Library staff produced 1,132 written reports for Congress. The Law Library also kept Congress informed on matters pertaining to international law through the online publication of the "World Law Bulletin." The Global Legal Information Network also provided Congress with access to the laws of 43 member nations, many of them from the developing world.
The Copyright Office provided policy advice and technical assistance to Congress on important copyright laws and related issues such as piracy of intellectual property, preservation of orphan works and the Copyright Royalty Distribution Reform Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-419).
Under this legislation, effective on May 31, 2005, the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels were replaced by the Copyright Royalty Board. Appointed by the Librarian of Congress in consultation with the Register of Copyrights, the Copyright Royalty Board is composed of three Copyright Royalty Judges. The board sets rates and terms for various statutory licenses and determines the distribution of royalty fees collected by the Copyright Office.
The Congressional Relations Office (CRO) assisted members of Congress and their staff in making use of the Library's collections, services and facilities. CRO and other Library offices worked with member and committee offices on current issues of legislative concern such as the Library's appropriations, the construction of a Capitol Visitor Center, the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, the Veterans History Project and reauthorization of the National Film Preservation Program.