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Posted by: Erin Allen
We continue our spotlight of letters from the Letters About Literature initiative, a national reading and writing program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives. Winners for 2016 were announced earlier this month. There was a tie …
Posted by: Erin Allen
Letters About Literature, a Library of Congress national reading- and writing-promotion program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives, announced its 2016 winners earlier this month. Nearly 50,000 young readers from across the country participated in …
Posted by: Erin Allen
“America Reads,” which opened yesterday in the Southwest Gallery of the Jefferson Building, is possibly the first sequel exhibition at the Library of Congress. It follows the institution’s popular 2012 exhibition “Books That Shaped America,” which displayed 88 books by American authors “that had a profound effect on American life.” For this exhibition, the books were chosen …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Collections, Events, Exhibitions, Libraries, Manuscripts, Photos, Pic of the Week, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a story from the May/June 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) Inspired by the nation’s long history of photographic survey projects, photographer Robert Dawson decided to focus his camera on America’s public libraries at the turn of the 21st century. “Since …
Posted in: Books, Collections, LCM, Libraries, Photos
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a story from the May/June 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) Bestselling author Brad Meltzer pays homage to the mysterious librarian who shaped his lifelong love of books. I have a few rules I try to live by. One of …
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is the cover story from the May/June 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM, written by Yvonne Dooley, reference librarian in the Science, Technology and Business Division and president of the D.C. Library Association. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) More popular than ever, public libraries are changing to meet …
Posted in: Books, Education, LCM, Libraries, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Four hundred years ago this weekend, two of the greatest geniuses in wordcraft this world has ever seen both died: William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes. Shakespeare’s plays still dazzle, written though they are in Elizabethan English and iambic pentameter; their story lines are still fresh enough to inspire endless straight-play performance worldwide, Broadway musicals …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Copyright, Education, History, Libraries, Manuscripts, Poetry, Preservation
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
I was 15 years old, sitting cross-legged next to my friend Mascha on a cork-tile floor at Mammoth Gardens, a roller-skating rink built in 1910. Plaster, occasionally, was falling from the ceiling – because the band on the stage that night was the drum-heavy Santana, which had just released its 1970 album “Abraxas.” That’s the …
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Education, Events, Libraries, Pinterest, Social Media
Posted by: Erin Allen
“You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read with a child.” ~ Dr. Seuss On Wednesday, children gathered at the Library’s Young Readers Center for “Read Across America” day, which also coincides with the birthday of Dr. Seuss. The National Education Association’s signature program is now in its …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Education, Events, Libraries, Photos, Pic of the Week, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC