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Category: Libraries

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

Posted by: John Sayers

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 …

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

New Book: American Libraries

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

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 …

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New Online: A Redesigned Portal for Librarians and Archivists

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

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 …

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

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

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

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 …

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

Uncovering the Story of Cats in the Biodiversity Heritage Library

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

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 …

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

Inquiring Minds: The Unheralded Story of the Card Catalog

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

The library card catalog was one of the most versatile and durable technologies in history—a veritable road map for navigating a “wilderness of books”—says Peter Devereaux of the Library’s Publishing Office. His new book on the subject, “The Card Catalog: Books, Cards and Literary Treasures,” explores the history of this once-revolutionary system and celebrates literary …

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

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 …