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European Reading Room: European Division, Area Studies
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View of the European Reading Room -- Photo by C. Marinov

About the Reading Room

The European Reading Room should be the starting point for readers and researchers whose interest relates to European countries, including the Russian-speaking areas of Asia, but excluding Spain, Portugal, and the British Isles.

The European Reading Room is staffed by multilingual reference librarians who can direct you to the materials you need and answer reference questions related to the European collections.

The Reference Collection. The European Reading Room contains a reference collection of approximately ten thousand volumes on Europe. This collection covers all European countries except Portugal, Spain, and the British Isles, and includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical, historical, and genealogical works, guides, directories, statistical yearbooks, atlases, and specialized catalogs and guides.

The General Collections. Readers may access the catalog of the Library of Congress and have books and bound periodicals from the general collections delivered to the European Reading Room.

Periodicals. The European Reading Room has custody of current, unbound Slavic and Baltic periodicals (about 3,500 titles, including 250 newspapers). Also available is a collection of uncataloged pamphlets.

Manuscripts, Microfilm, and Special Collections

Special Services. The area specialists and reference staff of the European Division are prepared to give special assistance to scholars in locating the research materials they need in the Library of Congress.

Address inquiries to: The European Reading Room, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-4830. Or use our online inquiry form.

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  August 8, 2023
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