Event Special Events Semi-Annual Main Reading Room Open House

Reference librarians from the Asian, Business, European, Hispanic, Main, Newspaper & Current Periodical, and Science reading rooms will be on hand to demonstrate services, offer instruction, answer questions, provide tours of the main card catalog and share noteworthy items from the Library’s vast on-site collections and electronic resources.  Showcased items will include collections reflecting the many languages of East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, presidential cookbooks, gems from the business collection, a demonstration of Chronicling America digitized newspapers, and genealogical material from the Blackwell family, documenting the research of Mrs. Thelma Sort Dowell, who traced her family back to the first Blackwell relative brought to America on the slave ship Doddington in 1735 and purchased by James Glenn Blackwell of Yorktown, Virginia. No other reference services will be available, and all other Library of Congress reading rooms and buildings will be closed. Photography is allowed; however, visitors may not use selfie sticks, mono-, bi- or tripods.

The Library’s Young Readers Center will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with activity stations and programming for visitors. Children and teens are invited to have fun with trivia games about the Library, engage in crafts celebrating books and reading, and enjoy the center’s collection of books, games, puzzles, puppets and more, as they explore the treasures in the Library’s collections. Young people under 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Contact: (202) 707-8000.