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Category: Books

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National Book Festival: 2017 Poster Depicts Delightful World of Books

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

(The following is a repost from the National Book Festival blog. The author is Lola Pyne of the Library’s Office of Communications.) Spring is in the air and with it begins anticipation for our summer celebration of books and reading—the Library of Congress National Book Festival—which this year will take place on Sept. 2. Two weeks ago, …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

New Book: Card Catalog’s History

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

A new book exploring the history of the card catalog—that venerated chest of small drawers that contained the known universe—has been published by the Library of Congress in association with Chronicle Books. The lavishly illustrated volume tells the story of libraries’ organizing approaches from the layout of papyrus scrolls at the Library of Alexandria, to …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

New Book: “Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps”

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Designed to educate, amuse or advertise, pictorial maps were a clever and colorful component of print culture in the mid-20th century, often overlooked in studies of cartography. A new book published by the Library of Congress in association with the University of Chicago Press, “Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps,” by Stephen J. …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Literacy: You’ve Got Ten Days Left!

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

(The following is a guest post by Guy Lamolinara, communications officer in the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.) There is still time to get your application in for a Library of Congress Literacy Award. The deadline is midnight EDT on March 31. By spending just a few hours to fill out …

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Literacy: Libraries Without Borders

Posted by: John Sayers

(The following is a guest post by Guy Lamolinara, communications officer in the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.) You have probably heard about the aid organization Doctors Without Borders. But do you know about Libraries Without Borders? Libraries Without Borders provides a different type of aid: Since 2007, the organization has …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

“Roots” – Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of an African-American Saga

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following post is written by Ahmed Johnson, African American genealogy specialist in the Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Division.) I’d like to begin with a story – a personal story. I remember being in a sociology class at Hampton University and discussing the government’s unfulfilled promise, in the aftermath of the Civil War, to …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

World War I: Online Offerings

Posted by: John Sayers

(The following was written for the March/April 2017 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read editions of past issues here.) With the most comprehensive World War I collections in the nation, we are uniquely equipped to tell the story of America’s involvement in the Great War through our website. Today we launched a …

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Literacy Award Winner First Book CEO Discusses Marketplace Innovation

Posted by: John Sayers

(The following is a guest post by Guy Lamolinara, communications officer in the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.) Demonstrating a pioneering approach to increasing literacy levels is a key component in a successful application for a Library of Congress Literacy Award, and First Book fulfills that criterion through its marketplace innovation. …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Pic of the Week: Saturdays at the Young Readers Center

Posted by: Erin Allen

The Young Readers Center in the Library of Congress hosted a series of events Jan. 28 to celebrate its new Saturday hours of operation, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The center, which opened in October 2009, will offer more young people and their families the opportunity to experience the wonders and resources of the nation’s library. “It …