how to do research at the library of congress

To help us better serve you, r equest a research appointment to ensure collection material is accessible during your visit at the Library. The Library of Congress asks all visitors to follow our COVID-19 health screening protocols, which are based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and the Office of the Attending Physician of the ...

The Library of Congress collections are the largest in the world and represent a wide variety of physical formats and languages. Our reference staff are able to help you identify and request materials in general and specialized reading rooms. Anyone 16 years or older can come in to use the Library (learn more about how to obtain a free Reader ...

×. The Library of Congress welcomes researchers to its reading rooms and research centers. Appointments are optional, but encouraged to serve you best, ensure collection material is accessible during your visit and optimize your time at the Library. The Thomas Jefferson Building has reopened to visitors via timed, ticketed entry—learn how to obtain a timed-entry pass.

The Library's website (LOC.gov) provides open access to a wide variety of digital primary and secondary sources of interest to researchers of all ages. This guide provides links to these resources and search tools, as well as strategies for their use.

The Library of Congress is a research library, and books are used only on the premises by members of the public. Anyone age 16 and older may use the collections. All patrons using the Library's reading rooms and/or collections must have a reader card with a photo on it.

Books: use the Library of Congress Online Catalog; Journal Articles: browse through the general resources listed on the E-Resources Online Catalog. Please note: e-resources marked ON-SITE ONLY cannot be accessed outside of the Library of Congress. For e-resources that can be accessed offsite, look for the FREE ACCESS designation.

Reading Rooms and Research Centers. The Library of Congress has twenty reading rooms and research centers, some of which hold special formats, such as maps or photographs, while others are based on language or geographic regions. If you know which reading room contains collections useful for your research, you may wish to contact that reading room or research center in advance to make certain ...

Ask a Librarian. Have a question? Need assistance? Our librarians and program specialists are here to help you. We encourage you to ask a specialist using one of the links below. To ask a general question or browse our FAQs use the tabs above. Areas offering chat service are indicated using the "chat" icon .

The Library of Congress ( LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C. that serves as the library and research service of the U.S. Congress and the de facto national library of the United States. [ 3] Founded in 1800, it is the United States' oldest federal cultural institution. [ 4]

Ask a Librarian: Manuscripts. We provide assistance with our holdings of manuscript collections of personal papers and organizational records in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. We will provide a response to your question within 5 business days. 0 options available.

The citation tool is present on the top toolbar of each Congress.gov collection page, such as Legislation, the Congressional Record, Committees, and Members. Clicking on the citation tool will open a popup. You may click Copy to Clipboard for each of the four available citation formats. Once copied, the citation will be saved to your clipboard ...

The Main Reading Room is one of the principal reference and book service points for the Library's general collections. Located in room LJ 100 on the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, the Main Reading Room is the perfect place to get started on your research at the Library of Congress. Reference librarians are available for research ...

The website of the Library of Congress offers many resources to support researchers of all ages. Although you do need to be at least 16 years old ... In short, it is designed to help you identify and use online resources from the Library of Congress for a range of research projects—inside or outside the classroom. If you have specific ...

International Business and Trade. Library and Information Science. Military Science. Political Science. Population and Demography. Psychology. Sociology. Databases (Library of Congress Electronic Resources Online Catalog). Licensed and recommended free databases, indexing and abstracting services, and full-text reference resources.

Descriptions of Library of Congress collections can be searched with other Library materials in the LC Catalog. Some older finding aids are currently available only as online text documents linked from Research Center web pages. Individual research centers may also have older finding aids available only in print. Finding Aids RSS Feed

We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site. Read our Comment and Posting Policy. Links to external Internet sites on Library of Congress Web pages do not constitute the Library's endorsement of the content of their Web sites or of their policies or products.

The author should answer the article's research question. Remember, you should evaluate the data to form your own conclusions. Don't just accept the author's conclusions without looking at the data for yourself. Often authors will include a section detailing the limits to their research and their conclusions.

The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution, and it serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 162 million items. The collections include books, sound recordings, motion pictures, photographs, maps, and manuscripts.

Accessing Library of Congress Buildings; Conduct and Personal Belongings Restrictions; Wireless Access at the Library of Congress; Research Orientation Classes; Library of Congress Research Guides; To reach a reference librarian for assistance and direct support, go to the "Ask a Librarian" tab here. It includes a video tutorial about the service.

Main Reading Room. The Library's Main Reading Room is open to all researchers 16 years or older who present valid photo identification (e.g. driver's license, passport) with a current address at one of the Library's reader registration stations.. General, International, and Special Format Reading Rooms. If you know which reading room contains collections useful for your research or area of ...

The following post was co-authored with Steve Morris, Chief of Digital Collections Management and Services and Tom Rieger, Manager of Digitization Services. The Library of Congress has a new Digitization Strategy for its collections. As we did for the Library's Digital Collections Strategy, we are excited to share this overview of it with readers of The …

Research Consultations and Orientations to the Library of Congress We regularly offer consultations, webinars, and orientations to the Library of Congress research process. Led by reference librarians and subject specialists, these sessions serve as an introduction for researchers using the Library of Congress collections and resources.

If you do lose something, just contact us and we can talk through options. Step 3: Read the book Step 4: Return the book to a library. When you are ready, return the book to any campus library at a service desk or book return. It does not need to be the same library you check it out.

Research guides on a wide variety of topics related to the humanities, general history, and the social sciences, created by subject specialists in the Library of Congress Researcher and Reference Services Division. Librarians provide onsite reference service in the Library's Main Reading Room—the principal point for gaining access to the ...

In addition to gaining access to the Library's research areas, a this card also allows access to the many subscription databases available at the Library, but only if you are onsite. This is also true of any other copyrighted or license-restricted resources. Access to the Library of Congress Online

Visit the Library Store on the First Floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday- Saturday 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. and Thursday's from 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. Visit the Online Store on Shopify. external link. to browse a wide selection of Library-themed gifts and apparel. We're excited to welcome you to the Library of Congress.

Unlike a school research paper, the author does not set out to argue for or against a particular position, and then devote the majority of effort to finding sources to support the selected position. Instead, the author sets out in good faith to do as much fact-finding as possible, and thus research is likely to present multiple, conflicting ...

The Library of Congress Web Archive manages, preserves, and provides access to archived web content selected by subject experts from across the Library. The Web Archiving program site includes helpful information for researchers and site owners, a glossary, frequently asked questions, as well as access to the collections.

The Library of Congress maintains two online public catalogs with sound recordings: the Library of Congress online catalog and SONIC. In addition, we have subject files, catalogs, in-house databases and extensive print resources available to researchers in the reading room for immediate access.

The Library of Congress ensures long-term access to its collections through diverse preservation activities, including collections care, conservation, emergency management, library binding, mass deacidification, preservation reformatting, preservation research and science. The Library also promotes preservation education, awareness, and good ...