Event | Special Events Live! At The Library: Mapping Our World

Celebrate Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day at the Library of Congress with interactive games and crafts that explore the history of ocean mapmaking and navigation through the centuries. The Library’s celebration includes a display of oceanic collection items and a talk by Vicki Ferrini of Columbia University on the history of ocean mapping. (Required tickets for the lecture can be reserved here.)

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.