Where Materials Are Stored

The general collections include books, pamphlets, and bound (non-current) periodicals in all languages except some that use non-roman alphabets (e.g., Chinese, Arabic) and in all areas of the classification scheme except law (classes J1-J14, JX1-JX1304, JX2000-JX9999, K, and LAW, located in the Law Library), music (M, ML, and MT, located in the Performing Arts Reading Room), and maps and atlases (G1000-G9980, located in the Geography and Map Reading Room). Cyrillic materials, although in a non-roman alphabet, are housed in the general collections. The bulk of the general collections are located in closed bookstacks in both the Jefferson and Adams Buildings. In general, most of the classes shelved in the Adams Building (A, G, H, J, L, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Z) cover science and social science subject areas, and those shelved in the Jefferson Building (B, C, D, E, F, N, P) cover the humanities. To ensure that book delivery time is kept to a minimum, readers should use the reading room located in the building where the materials they are requesting are housed.

To relieve overcrowding of the book stacks in the Library's Capitol Hill complex, the Library maintains two remote storage facilities at Fort Meade and Landover in Maryland . (Catalog records describing materials stored at Fort Meade will bear the notation "Request in: Main or Science/Business Reading Rms--STORED OFFSITE.") For information on what materials are stored in these facilities, and how to request these materials, researchers should consult the Collections Access, Loan and Management Division's Web pages on "Collections Served" and "Requesting General Collections Materials from Fort Meade." Requests for materials from the general collections housed at these facilities can be submitted to the Book Service desks on the fifth floor of the Adams Building and in the Main Reading Room. Delivery of requested materials from offsite storage is provided once in the morning and once in the afternoon, Monday through Friday. In general, materials are received in less than 24 hours. In some cases, the wait is less than half a working day. However, offsite storage materials requested on Friday afternoon or Saturday will not be delivered until Monday. For further information on the location of specific items, see a book service staff member or a reference librarian.