Archive for the Libraries Category (134 posts)

Any Questions? When Students Want to Know, They Ask a Librarian

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This is a guest post by Danna Bell of the Library’s Educational Outreach Office. It first appeared in “A Library for Kids,” the September–October issue of LCM, the Library of Congress Magazine. The issue is available in its entirety online.

Photo by Shawn Miller.

Why do pigeons bob their heads when they walk? Are children allowed in the Library of Congress? What is the smallest book at the Library? What is the favorite book of the Librarian of Congress?

What do these questions have in common? They’re all questions sent by kids to the Library of Congress.

The Library receives about 400,000 reference questions a year from people around the world, and it has a team of experts ready to respond quickly and accurately to users. The Library of Congress is for everyone, and kids are welcome to ask questions, just like adults do.

Some kids get in touch because they’re looking for homework help. Some are getting ready for competitions like National History Day. Some are just following their own curiosity or searching for answers to a question inspired by a book, a movie or a conversation with their friends.

The Library’s experts treat questions from kids the same way they treat questions from adults: They read each question very carefully and think about the best way to help. Then they respond as soon as they can – usually within a few days. They don’t always provide the answer, but will often suggest books, websites and other resources to help kids find the answer for themselves.

Here are a few of our favorite questions from young scholars:

  • “I am studying Roberto Clemente. Do you know what he ate? Could you tell me what condiments he used to eat?”
  • “How many brothers and sisters did Pocahontas have?”
  • “Did Cesar Chavez have any pets? What did he like to do when he was a kid?”
  • “Do you have any books about homework and its effect on the human brain? I would like to be able to prove that homework is bad for you.”

Some kids take their questions right to the top, to the person in charge of the Library of Congress, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. They’ve sent her handwritten letters wondering:

  • “Is it fun to be the Librarian of Congress?”
  • “Did you always like libraries from the start?”

As with the adults who ask questions, the young scholars appreciate the help they get and often are eager to show it, with a hand-drawn thank-you card, a note decorated with “balloons of love,” feedback about a meeting with the librarian of Congress (“in addition, when you did the dab that was cool”) – or even, perhaps, an invitation.

“I will stay in touch and write more letters to you,” one young correspondent wrote to Hayden. “Do you like Indian food? My mom and dad make out of this world paneer and if you have the time, can you have dinner with us?”

The Library loves to get questions from kids – and from anyone! The easiest way to ask a question is to visit the Ask a Librarian page on the Library’s website. Of course, if 30 students all from the same class all send questions at the same time, chances are good that our reference librarians will reach out to the school’s librarian and alert him or her so that he or she can work with the teacher to support the students’ curiosity with local resources.

Are you wondering about the answers to the questions in the first paragraph above?

  • Pigeons bob their heads because it helps them see. This question and its answer eventually ended up on the Business, Science and Technology Division’s Everyday Mysteries website.
  • Yes, kids of all ages are welcome in the Library of Congress. And anyone over 16 is welcome to do research in our reading rooms.
  • Our smallest book, “Old King Cole,” is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
  • Hayden’s favorite book is “Bright April,” by Marguerite De Angeli.

Inquiring Minds: Decoding the Design of America’s Libraries

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For more than two centuries, American library architecture aspired to accommodate the physical dimensions of books and the furniture and spaces designed to store and display them. “American Libraries 1730–1950”—a new book by Kenneth Breisch—celebrates the history of that architecture, from classical temples to ivy-covered campus citadels to modern glass boxes—whose roofs now house more […]

This Day in History: Happy Birthday LOC!

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Today, the Library of Congress celebrates its 218th birthday. On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved an appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of “such books as may be necessary for the use of [C]ongress.” The first books purchased were ordered from London and arrived in 1801. The collection of 740 volumes and three […]

My Job at the Library: The Library’s First Official Historian

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This post is reprinted from the November–December issue of LCM, the Library of Congress Magazine. The entire issue is available on the Library’s website. John Cole has enjoyed a remarkable 51-year career at the Library, culminating with his most recent appointment as the first official Library of Congress historian. Throughout his long tenure at the […]

New Book: American Libraries

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The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, chief of the Prints and Photographs Division, about “American Libraries 1730–1950,” published this fall by W.W. Norton and Company in association with the Library of Congress. You can find libraries at the heart of many different communities, from the center of a town or a college […]

New Online: A Redesigned Portal for Librarians and Archivists

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This is a guest post by Elizabeth Fulford, a librarian in the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access (ABA) Directorate, and Susan Morris, special assistant to the ABA director. The Library of Congress provides many resources to support information professionals worldwide. To streamline access to that content, we’ve redesigned our portal for librarians and archivists. The new […]

Pic of the Week: Library and Military Service Academies Collaborate on Collections Access

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The Library of Congress and the U.S. military service academies signed a cooperative agreement this week to provide researchers with enhanced access to the institutions’ collections and grow representation of service members in the Library’s collections—including the Veterans History Project. The three-year agreement, which took effect on September 18, provides greater access for Library researchers […]

Uncovering the Story of Cats in the Biodiversity Heritage Library

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This post is by Madison Arnold-Scerbo, a 2017 summer intern with the Junior Fellows Program. She is a student of history and museum studies at Haverford College. Her Junior Fellows project in the Science, Technology and Business Division combined many of her interests—the history of science, exhibition curation, library science and cats! Rodent catchers, lab […]