Director’s Thoughts – 8/16/2024

If you’ve never gotten a chance to tour the Library of Congress, it should be added to your bucket list! The building itself is absolutely gorgeous and as the largest library in the world, it’s an impressive sight to behold! The Thomas Jefferson Building was opened to the public in 1897, built with an Italian Renaissance design in mind, and is truly beautiful.

The library itself holds over 173 million items and includes everything from maps, to manuscripts, sheet music, to audio recordings. Granted, all of these things don’t fit in just one building, in fact the collection is spread across three buildings on Captiol Hill, a High Density Storage Facility at Fort Meade, Maryland, and the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Virginia. While the library itself has closed stacks, meaning the general public and researchers are not allowed to browse the stacks, anyone can get a Reader Identification Card by visiting the Library of Congress Reader Registration station and request material to view.

The majority of work done by the Library of Congress is in response to research questions posed by staff members within the federal government, whether that’s on Capitol Hill or in one of the many agencies spread across Washington D. C., Virginia, and Maryland. But, what you might not be familiar with is that the Library of Congress also does a lot of work with the general public.

National Library Service

The Library of Congress offers a National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled which “is a free braille and talking book library service for people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical, perceptual, or reading disability that prevents them from using regular print materials.” If this is a service that interests you, be sure to visit your local library for more information on how to get connected.

National Book Festival

They also host amazing events like the National Book Festival that’s actually going on next weekend – August 24th. They bring in loads of authors for presentations, book signings, and so much more! It’s a really fun experience for book lovers and it’s always packed! (Plus, it’s a free event, so if you live in the area, it’s worth popping in to take a look!)

And you can’t forget that when you visit the library is very much like a museum with rotating exhibits and really cool highlights like a Gutenberg Bible, and things like a musical instrument collection, check out Lizzo playing a crystal flute that once belonged to James Madison, and cuneiform tablets that date back to 2040 B.C.

So do yourself a favor and book a free tour of the Library of Congress in person or even just poke around their website – there’s sure to be something that you’ll find absolutely fascinating!