Beginning May 13, all patrons of the public reading rooms of the Library of Congress are required to have user identification cards, issued by the Library.
The cards are free, and can be obtained by presenting a valid driver's license, state-issued identification card, or passport at the reader registration station in Room G-22 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street, S.E. Once the user has completed a simple self-registration process, the station attendant checks the information, takes an identification photo, and issues a printed plastic card to the reader.
"The reader registration system is considered a critical component of the Library's collections security program," said Steven J. Herman, chief of the Collections Management Division. It is part of a larger plan to protect the Library's collections that was initiated by the Librarian of Congress in March 1992. Other components of that plan include closed stacks, installation of surveillance cameras, electronic control of stack doors, and installation of theft detection targets and detection gates.
The photo ID cards will be valid in all of the Library's public reading rooms. They will make it easier for readers to request materials from the Library's collections, because readers will have to enter only their user card number on call slips, rather than their name and address as is required now. The cards will be good for two years.
Patrons who wish to do research at the Library should enter the Jefferson Building using the northeast entrance on 2nd Street, S.E., and proceed to the reader registration station in Room G-22 on the entrance level.
For more information patrons can contact Joe Puccio at (202) 707-7400.
