Primary Source Designs for Learning Handbook
Library of Congress Research Centers Overview
Library of Congress Building Abbreviations
LA = Adams Building | LJ = Jefferson Building | LM = Madison Building
The African & Middle Eastern Division Reading Room provides reference and bibliographic services covering more than 70 countries and regions, from South Africa to Morocco to the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union. In most cases, materials written in the vernacular languages of these areas must be accessed through the African & Middle Eastern Division reading room. (Room LJ220)
The Folklife Reading Room of the American Folklife Center is the access point for researchers interested in folklife. The ethnographic collections of the Archive of Folk Culture, part of the American Folklife Center, are international in scope and include over one million photographs, manuscripts, audio recordings, and moving images. (Room LJG53)
- The Veteran’s History Project.
- The Local Legacies project offers a snap shot of American Culture from every state in the nation.
The Asian Division Reading Room serves as the gateway to material in all languages of Asia, about Asian American Studies, the Asian Diaspora, and the Pacific Islands. In most cases, materials written in Asian languages must be accessed through the Asian Division reading room. (Room LJ150)
Business Reference Services is the starting point for conducting research in all major business subjects including industry information, commerce, statistics, banking, insurance, economics, finance, investment, and marketing. Reference specialists assist in formulating research search strategies and accessing materials contained in the Library's collections. (Room LA508)
The Center for the Book was established in 1977 to use the resources and prestige of the Library of Congress to promote books, reading, libraries, and literacy. Within the Library, the center is a focal point for celebrating the legacy of books and the printed word. Outside the Library, the center works closely with other organizations to foster understanding of the vital role of books, reading, libraries and literacy in society.
The Children's Literature Center provides reference services to individuals and organizations concerned with young people. It organizes programs, exhibitions, and issues publications. (Room LJ100)
The European Division Reading Room is the primary public access point for researchers seeking to use the vast collections of the Library of Congress relating to European countries, including the Russian-speaking areas of Asia. Researchers interested in Spain and Portugal should contact the Hispanic Division reading room; those interested in the United Kingdom and Ireland should consult reference librarians in the Main Reading Room. The European Division Reading Room has custody of current, unbound Slavic and Baltic periodicals and has available recent issues of Western European newspapers and periodicals and collections of pamphlets and "grey literature." (Room LJ250)
In the Geography and Map Division Reading Room, researchers can access the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world, including more than 4.5 million maps and 60,000 atlases as well as a large number of cartographic materials in other formats. (Room LMB01)
- The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps
- Geography and Maps an Illustrated Guide
- Guides to Collections
- Places in the News: Find maps locations around the world that are in the news
The Hispanic Division Reading Room serves as the primary access point for research relating to those parts of the world encompassing the geographical areas of the Caribbean, Latin America, and Iberia; the indigenous cultures of those areas; and peoples throughout the world historically influenced by Luso-Hispanic heritage. Luso-Hispanic, Iberian, and Caribbean materials can be accessed through the Hispanic Division or through the Main Reading Room. (Room LJ240)
The mission of the Law Library is to provide research and legal information to the U.S. Congress, U.S. Federal Courts and Executive Agencies, and to offer reference services to the public. It contains the world's largest collection of law books and other resources from all countries and provides digitized information with online databases and guides to legal information worldwide. (Room LM201)
The Local History & Genealogy Reading Room serves one of the world's premier collections of U.S. and foreign genealogical and local historical publications. The Library's genealogical collection began as early as 1815 when Thomas Jefferson's library was acquired. (Room LJG42)
The historic Main Reading Room is, through its catalogs, the primary entrance into the Library's research collections and the principal reading room for work in the social sciences and humanities. (Room LJ100)
The Manuscript Division Reading Room provides access to more than fifty million items in eleven thousand separate collections. It includes some of the greatest manuscript treasures of American history and culture and supports scholarly research in many aspects of political, cultural, and scientific history. (Room LM101)
The Microform Reading Room has custody of and provides access to the general microform collection of the Library of Congress. Other specialized reading rooms, such as Law and Manuscript or Area Studies reading rooms, also contain large microform collections. (Room LJ139B)
The Motion Picture and Television Reading Room provides access and information services for the motion picture and television collections to an international community of film and television professionals, archivists, scholars, and researchers. (Room LM336)
The Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room provides public service to material in the Serial & Government Publications Division: current & retrospective newspapers (U.S. and foreign), current periodicals, and government documents (including U.S. Federal Depository, United Nations, and European Union publications). Collections include material published in all Western European languages. (Room LM133)
The collections available in the Performing Arts Reading Room of the Music Division number close to eight million items. These include classified music and book collections, music and literary manuscripts, microforms, and copyright deposits. The Library of Congress is unique among national libraries because it embraces the complete range of music--newly commissioned and created works are performed and the original manuscripts are placed in the collections for the use of succeeding generations. (Room LM113)
- The Music, Theatre, and Dance collection (formerly I Hear America Singing)
Origins of the Poetry and Literature Center date from 1936, when Archer M. Huntington endowed the Chair of Poetry at the Library of Congress. The Center itself was founded in the 1940s and has been almost exclusively supported since 1951 by a gift from the late Gertrude Clarke Whittall, who wanted to bring the appreciation of good literature to a larger audience. As a unit of the Library of Congress, the Center functions within the Library’s Office of Scholarly Programs.
The Prints and Photographs Reading Room provides public access to more than 13.6 million images, including photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. (Room LM339)
The unique materials of the Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room include books, broadsides, pamphlets, theater playbills, title pages, prints, posters, photographs, and medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. (Room LJ239)
The Recorded Sound Reference Center is the public access place for the Library's audio collections, which reflect the entire history of sound technology, from wax cylinders, through LP's and tape, to compact audio discs. (Room LM113)
The Science and Technology Division's Reading Room is the public access point for the Library's scientific and technical materials. The reading room supports access to information in all areas of science and technology. The exceptions are clinical medicine and technical agriculture, the subject specialties of the National Library of Medicine and the National Agricultural Library, respectively. (Room LA508)
- Everyday Mysteries: Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress is located here.