The Ralph J. Bunche Library, formerly the State Department Library, is the oldest federal government library in the United States. The library is currently located in room 3239 of the Harry S Truman Building. Purpose The library is a Federal depository library with a stated mission "to support the research needs of personnel of the Department of State." Among its resources, the library contains a large collection pertaining to foreign relations. This category includes books about other nations and their governments; about world history; international organizations; wars and international conflicts, especially those involving the U.S.; espionage; world trade relations; foreign assistance and development; treaties and contracts between nations; and American history, particularly as it pertains to the Department of State. The library is not public, but will sometimes lend books to other libraries for public use through interlibrary loan. History Source: Ralph J. Bunche Library History by Dan Clemmer accessed on Bunche Library I-net site, December 7, 2007 Founding of the department and the library The first executive department to be established under the new Constitution of the United States was the United States Department of State. On a motion by James Madison, and after extensive debate, the act setting up the Department of Foreign Affairs was passed and became law when it was signed by President George Washington on July 27, 1789. On September 15, 1789, a bill was passed and approved by the President which changed the name to the Department of State and significantly expanded its responsibilities. The library of the Department of State was provided for in the acts of July 27 and September 15, 1789, thus becoming the first federal library. Section Four of the law that created the Department declares that the United States Secretary of State will have custody and charge of all records, books, and papers collected in the past years under the Continental Congress and the government under the Articles of Confederation. This collection of books, official gazettes, and newspapers was the nucleus of the newly founded Department of State Library. As the first Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, developed and expanded the library collection to include statutes of the States and territories of the United States; laws of foreign states; works in history, biography, geography, political science, economics, language, statistics, as well as reference works and periodicals. In 1790 Jefferson estimated Library expenses for the year to be $4 each