Top of page

Category: Libraries

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

A Global Toast to the Book

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is an article written by David A. Taylor, external relations and program development officer in Library Services, for the November-December 2012 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine. The article takes a look at an event this Thursday and Friday that will celebrate one of the most powerful and crucial forms of information …

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

Growing a Library

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is an article from the September-October 2012 issue of the Library’s new magazine, LCM, discussing how the Library acquires its collections.) By Audrey Fischer Beginning with a purchase of 740 books by Congress in 1800, the Library of Congress collection has grown to nearly 152 million items. But purchase is just one acquisition …

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

Black and White and (Still) Read All Over

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Old newspapers have acquired an iffy reputation over the years.  We bemoan the trees that had to die to bring them into existence for their one day of glory; we dub them “mullet-wrappers” or note, as they do in the British Isles, that “Yesterday’s news is tomorrow’s fish-and-chip paper.” But old newspapers can be addictive!  …

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

A Book (Festival) With a Happy Ending

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

The 2012 Library of Congress National Book Festival closed up shop Sunday evening – leaving more than 200,000 delighted book-lovers thrilled to have heard from and met their favorite authors, stoked up with new titles to read, and exhilarated by two days of gorgeous fall weather there on the National Mall. One couple even got …

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

Countdown to Book-Stravaganza

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Just days stand between the book-lovers of the USA and the Library of Congress National Book Festival! But don’t just stare at the countdown clock on the Festival website … check out the speaking and book-signing schedules for our 125 authors, or listen to the podcasts already available from some of this year’s authors.  That …

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

From Russia, with Music

Posted by: Erin Allen

The Library of Congress and a Moscow museum recently completed a project that, for the first time, brings together the original music manuscripts of one of the great composers of the 20th century – works that had been separated over the past century by thousands of miles and the Russian Revolution. The Library and the …

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

So — What Books Shaped You?

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

In conjunction with the Monday launch of an exhibition at the Library of Congress titled “Books That Shaped America” as part of its overarching Celebration of the Book, the Library of Congress is making public a list of 88 books by Americans that, it can be argued, shaped the nation over its lifetime. It’s not …

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

Mr. Morrill Goes to Washington

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

On Monday (June 25) at the Library of Congress – in a conference anybody can attend, free of charge – the contributions of a congressman you’ve probably never heard of, but really should know about, will be explored. Justin Morrill of Vermont may never be as well-known as his executive-branch supporter in these endeavors, Abraham …