Event Special Events Live! At The Library: Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

The Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building is open for extended hours every Thursday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. Visitors are invited to enjoy happy hour snacks and drinks available for purchase in the Great Hall while immersing themselves in the Library’s exhibits, collections and programs. The series will regularly feature special conversations, music, performances, films and displays that showcase the broad range of holdings at the national library.

During Live! At The Library, we also welcome visitors to experience the Library’s grand Main Reading Room in the Thomas Jefferson Building. Usually reserved for credentialed researchers, this access offers visitors a glimpse inside one of Washington’s most beautiful spaces. Visitors may access the Main Reading Room on the First Floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building each Thursday beginning at 5 p.m.

Visitors to the Main Reading Room are encouraged to be mindful that it is a working research space and that the experience is one of quiet reflection. Visitors will be permitted to take photos of the space but may not photograph researchers at work. Bags and coats are not permitted on the floor of the Main Reading Room.

Special Programming: 

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and award-winning poets Ruth Behar and Maria Kelson come to the Library of Congress for a special conversation led by Dan Vera. This event will be held in the Hispanic Reading Room (LJ-240) at 6:30 p.m. 

The Hispanic Reading Room is an important access point at the Library of Congress for researchers working on the Caribbean, Latin America, Spain and Portugal; the indigenous cultures of those areas; and peoples throughout the world historically influenced by Luso-Hispanic heritage, including the Latina/o/e/x community in the United States. It was the first of the Area Studies reading rooms at the Library, founded in 1939 as a center for the pursuit of studies in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American culture.

The space is a creative tribute to Hispanic and Lusophone culture – with four tempera murals by Brazilian modernist Cândido Portinari, high vaulted ceilings, Talavera tiles from Puebla, Mexico, wood paneled alcoves, wrought iron accents, and nameplates celebrating select Luso-Hispanic literary greats.