Check out the Library of Congress Website!

The Library of Congress (LoC) was established in 1880 to support the research needs of the United States Congress. Over time, its mission and reach broadened, allowing it to serve as the nation’s library. As you can imagine this is quite an undertaking, making the LoC the largest library in the world! Early in this century the LoC began to digitize collections and put them online. Recently, I attended a webinar that provided a tour of features on the LoC website. You can view this webinar by following this link. It is about 45 minutes with 15 minutes of Q&A. A few of the standouts from the tour follow:

The LoC Homepage

Similar to HRL, the top of the LoC homepage promotes what is new or trending for the library. At this time, the “image ribbon” contains an announcement that Danielle Allen won the Kluge Prize (for Achievement in the Study of Humanity), new music from the Boccaccio Project (ten days of online concerts), an online exhibit We Shall Not be Denied (about women gaining the right to vote), Engage with the Library of Congress (featuring a host of events and resources) and Online Reference Service (ask a librarian).

Beneath this top row of images are eight pulldown menus. For one of them, (Digital Collections) I have provided more information following the overview of the homepage. Below are a few images from this collection and their citations. Beneath these pulldown menus is the heading “Trending” which currently includes links to more information on Juneteenth, Civil War, Rosa Parks, Great Depression, Immigration and Children’s books. Then there are images and links to news, blogs, and exhibitions.

Ungerer, T. (1972) It's a Whole Great Big Fun Thing. , 1972. [New York: publisher not identified] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2015647215/

Johnson, E. K. & A. Hoen & Co. (1888) Birdseye view of the National Capital, including the site of the proposed World's Exposition ofand Permanent Exposition of the Three Americas. [Washington? D.C.: E. K. Johnson] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/80694601/.

Flagg, J. M. (1917) Wake up America! Civilization calls every man, woman and child! / James Montgomery Flagg. United States, 1917. N.Y.: The Hegeman Print. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/91726511/.

If you scroll down, you will next see “The Library” heading with information about visiting, research centers, ask a librarian and a link to even more information about the library. The bottom of the homepage features images from the digital collections. For June, the subject is weddings; in May the subject was horses. Just exploring the LoC homepage could keep us busy for quite some time, but I want to share some of the other great resources found here.

Digital Collections

The Digital Collections include:

• Audio recordings
• Books/printed material
• Films & Videos
• Legislation
• Manuscripts/Mixed Material
• Maps
• Notated Music
• Newspapers
• Periodicals
• Personal Narratives
• Photos, Prints, Drawings
• Software, E-Resources
• Archived Web Sites
• Web Pages
• 3D Objects

The image ribbon on this page features several collections. Notice that you can filter various collections using the topics on the left such as date or location, as well as search with key words. You can also view collections or results as either a list or a gallery. Citations and copyright information for the images are provided.

More great links! We hope you enjoy exploring this national treasure!

• Engage! https://loc.gov/engage shares current events and topic
• Free to Use/Reuse: https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/  collections of images either in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.
• LOC blogs https://blogs.loc.gov/
• Everyday Mysteries: https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/ Interesting questions that have been submitted to the LoC and the answers.
• Campaigns @ Crowds: https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns-topics/ This portal invites you to transcribe, review, and tag digitized images of manuscripts and typed materials from the Library’s collections!
• Motion pictures
• National screening room
• American Archive of Public Broadcasting: https://americanarchive.org/ 
• Recorded sound

• American Folklife Center: https://www.loc.gov/folklife/

• Teachers Blog: http://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/
• Library of Congress for Teachers: http://loc.gov/teachers/ 
• Webinars for educators
• Copyright Office: https://copyright.gov/ 
• History and Education Copyright:  https://www.copyright.gov/history/
• Congress: https://www.congress.gov/ 
• Legislative Process Videos: https://www.congress.gov/legislative-process
• LOC Services and Programs: https://www.loc.gov/services-and-programs/
• National Library Service (NLS) is a free braille and talking book library service for people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical disability that prevents them from reading or holding the printed page: https://www.loc.gov/nls/
• LOC YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress
• Researchers: https://www.loc.gov/rr/ 
• Science and Tech: https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/ 
• Subscribe to LOC news and events and more: https://loc.gov/subscribe/

1891 Sanborn Insurance Map of Berryville & Birdseye View of Winchester

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Berryville, Clark County, Virginia. Sanborn Map Company, Jun, 1891. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sanborn08979_001/

Woods, and William A Ryan. Bird's eye map of the city of Winchester. [n.p. W. A. Ryan, 1926] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/75696654/