Primary Source Designs for Learning Handbook

Orientation Activity (Advanced): Research Centers Overview and Search Box

Understanding Goal

The Library of Congress is organized into Research Centers also referred to as Reading Rooms where collections of materials are maintained.

Investigative Question

What materials are available in Research Centers?

Patron Actions:

1. Follow the steps below to locate the Research Center at LOC.gov.
2. Read the descriptions of the Research Centers of interest.
3. Explore the special digital materials available at each Research Center linked below the descriptions.
4. Determine what materials may be useful for topics of interest from the Research Centers.

Background

Research Centers offer hundreds of special format, language, and subject area collections. For example, from LOC.gov go to: Researchers → Research Centers → Rare Book & Special Collections → Digitized Rare & Special Collections → Other Digitized Print Materials → Children's Literature to find many full versions of children's literature completely digitized. These resources are often not available in other parts of the Library Web site.

1. 
   Click on Researchers from the Library of Congress Home Page.
2. 
   Click on Research Centers. Here you will find links to all of the reading rooms at the Library of Congress and many resources not found in American Memory and Prints and Photographs.
3. 
   Enter your Search Term into the Search Guide located in the upper right hand corner of the Research Center homepage