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Category: Literacy

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

Inquiring Minds: A Prize-Winning Passion for Books

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Ena Selimovic, a winner of this year’s National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest, which recognizes outstanding book collecting by college and university students. The Library co-sponsors the contest with the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America, the Fellowship of American Bibliographic Societies and the Grolier Club. Selimovic is working on a …

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

Latin at the Library: Colonial and Early American Writings

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Andrew Gaudio, a reference librarian in the Researcher and Reference Services Division. As the Library of Congress’ specialist in Latin language and literature, I have come to appreciate a small but important body of Latin texts from the American British colonies and early United States written during the 17th, …

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

Literacy: The Library Is Looking for a Few Good Organizations

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Guy Lamolinara, communications officer in the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Do you work in the field of literacy or know someone who does? Then you may want to consider applying for a Library of Congress Literacy Award. Applications will be accepted from organizations that …

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

Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Inaugurated

Posted by: Mark Hartsell

Young readers, author Jacqueline Woodson says, need books that serve as both a window and a mirror—a window that allows them to see into other worlds, a mirror that might let, say, an African-American girl or Asian boy see some part of their own identity on the page. The books of such African-American children’s authors …

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

EverydayLOC: New Year’s Resolutions

Posted by: Gayle Osterberg

Happy New Year! There is something sort of refreshing to me about saying those words. I have always fully embraced the notion that a new calendar year, psychologically speaking, offers a particular moment to reset, recommit and reprioritize. Whether you call them New Year’s Resolutions or, as one of my dear friends refers to them, …

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

Pic of the Week: John Cena Thrills Young Readers

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

World-champion wrestler John Cena (center) visited the Library on December 6 to talk about his latest endeavor: starring as the voice of the gentle bull Ferdinand in a soon-to-be-released 20th Century Fox Animation feature film based on “The Story of Ferdinand the Bull,” the beloved 1936 children’s book by Munro Leaf. Cena read the story …

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

Rare Book of the Month: ABCs Through the Centuries

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by digital library specialist Elizabeth Gettins. September is traditionally known as the month that all children return to school after summer vacation. To mark this tradition, the Rare Book and Special Collection Division’s book(s) of the month are two hornbooks: a wood hornbook and an ivory hornbook. Today’s children would likely …

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

Watch Live in Support of Literacy

Posted by: Gayle Osterberg

On January 31, award-winning author and literacy advocate Stephen King helped the Library launch our annual call for nominations for the Library of Congress Literacy Awards honoring organizations working to promote literacy and reading in the United States and worldwide. Throughout the winter, 18 additional authors, including Kwame Alexander, Ken Burns and Margo Jefferson added …