Sesame Street is coming to the Library via the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Nearly 4,500 digitized episodes of the groundbreaking children’s TV series have been donated to the archives & will be available on-site.

Click here for more information.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has announced her selection of Judge Jesse Feder as the new chief copyright royalty judge and head of the Copyright Royalty Board. Feder will be replacing retiring Chief Judge Suzanne Barnett. Also, the Librarian has appointed Richard C. Strasser interim copyright royalty judge on the Board. 

Click here for more information.

The Library of Congress announced today that it has received a $540,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to evaluate the physical health of the national collection of books in American research libraries and to guide their archive retention and preservation decisions. Since there currently is no objective formula to assess the condition of millions of books in the custody of the nation’s libraries, this scientific study will help inform best practices and provide a baseline for libraries to analyze their print collections based on established scientific guidelines.

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The Library of Congress is accepting applications for its Librarians-in-Residence program to offer early career librarians the opportunity to develop their expertise and contribute to building, stewarding and sharing the institution’s vast collections. The application period closes February 22, 2019.

Click here for more information.

A new radio edition of the celebrated poetry podcast “The Slowdown,” hosted by U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, is now available to public radio listeners in several regions across the country.

Click here for more information.

The Library of Congress has acquired and made available online the Omar Ibn Said Collection, which includes the only known surviving slave narrative written in Arabic in the United States. In 1831, Omar Ibn Said, a wealthy and highly educated man who was captured in West Africa and brought to the United States as a slave, wrote a 15-page autobiography describing his experiences.

Read more about the extraordinary Omar Ibn Said Collection.

The Library of Congress will launch a yearlong initiative in 2019 inviting visitors to Explore America’s Change Makers with a series of exhibitions, events and programs. Major exhibitions drawing from the Library’s collections will be focused on important figures in women’s history and the fight for suffrage, Rosa Parks’ groundbreaking role in the civil rights movement and artists’ responses to major issues of the day.

Click here for more information.

Applications will be accepted for the 2019 Library of Congress Literacy Awards beginning Jan. 14, and the deadline for applications is March 8. The Literacy Awards, which were created by the Library of Congress and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, were first conferred in 2013 to honor and support organizations working to promote literacy both in the United States and abroad.

Click here for more information.

The Library’s resolution for 2019 is to offer more opportunities to engage lifelong learners like you with our unique treasures and programs. Make your gift before we close the books on 2018!

Your gift supports FREE exhibitions, events, programs, and activities that connect millions of people across the nation and around the world with our unique collections, experts, and services.

The Library of Congress is your library, your gateway to understanding the world. There is so much to discover, not only the nation’s memory, but the world’s—information from all corners of the earth, in more than 470 languages. With millions of items available online, you can access the Library’s treasures from anywhere and connect with us in ways that are personally relevant and valuable.

The Library’s resolution for 2019 is to offer more opportunities to engage lifelong learners like you with our unique treasures and programs. Make your gift before we close the books on 2018!

Your gift can:

• Inspire curiosity in children to read more books and reflect on the power of books to change their lives
• Ignite thoughtful conversation among current and future generations of students and scholars
• Illuminate the minds of people like you who use the resources of the nation's Library here in Washington or via the Internet in their own homes and communities

With the help of supporters like you, we can spark the imagination of people of all ages with programs that open the Library’s doors wide to all.

Join us TODAY by making your 2018 tax-deductible donation, and together we’ll spark a lifelong adventure of learning.

To honor the innovative ways in which federal libraries, librarians and library technicians fulfill the information demands of government, businesses, researchers, scholarly communities and the American public, the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) in the Library of Congress has opened nominations for its national awards for federal librarianship in fiscal year 2018. Deadline for applications is Jan. 21, 2019.

Click here for more information.

The Library of Congress is seeking applicants for its 2019 Junior Fellows Summer Intern Program. This is a 10-week paid fellowship for undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning more about the work done at the largest library in the world.

Click here for more information.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced today the annual selection of 25 of America’s most influential motion pictures to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress because of their cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage. These films range from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” and Paul Newman’s unforgettable “Hud” to the opulent musical “My Fair Lady” and the rocking sounds of “Monterey Pop.” Selection to the registry will help ensure that these films will be preserved for all time.

Click here for more information.

The John W. Kluge Center and the Philip Lee Phillips Map Society at the Library of Congress invite qualified scholars to apply for a grant to conduct research for two months at the Kluge Center using the Geography and Map Division’s collections and resources.

Click here for more information.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will deliver the Kissinger Lecture in Foreign Policy and International Relations. Lagarde will speak about the changing landscape of the international system and the need for continued creativity in U.S. leadership in order to tackle the world’s shared economic challenges.

This event will begin with an introduction by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Hayden will be followed by Lagarde's keynote address and an interview by Margaret Brennan of Face the Nation on CBS.

The program will be streamed LIVE on Tuesday, Dec. 4, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET:

• Watch LIVE on YouTube
• Watch LIVE on Facebook

Learn more about the Henry A. Kissinger Program in Foreign Policy and International Relations here.

In observance of the national day of mourning honoring former President George H.W. Bush Wednesday, December 5, all Library buildings will be CLOSED and all public events and services are canceled.

Click here for more information.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will deliver the Kissinger Lecture in Foreign Policy and International Relations. Lagarde will speak about the changing landscape of the international system and the need for continued creativity in U.S. leadership in order to tackle the world’s shared economic challenges.

This event will begin with an introduction by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Hayden will be followed by Lagarde's keynote address and an interview by Margaret Brennan of Face the Nation on CBS.

The program will be streamed LIVE on Tuesday, Dec. 4, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET:

• Watch LIVE on YouTube
• Watch LIVE on Facebook
• Watch LIVE on the Library of Congress website

Learn more about the Henry A. Kissinger Program in Foreign Policy and International Relations here.

The Library of Congress announced today that it has acquired the original manuscripts documenting the work of composer, arranger and pianist Billy Strayhorn. An important star in the jazz firmament, Strayhorn was the source of much of the sound of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He worked with Ellington for nearly 30 years, writing or collaborating on more than 200 tunes and arrangements for the band. Strayhorn wrote the orchestra’s signature tune, “Take the ‘A’ Train.”

Click here for more information.

The University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Information Sciences and the Library Sciences and Informatics Library will establish the first Puerto Rico Center for the Book in 2019 as the 53rd affiliate center of the Library of Congress, the two institutions announced today. The Library’s Center for the Book is a network of U.S. sites promoting an interest in reading and literacy.

Click here for more information.

The day has arrived—#GivingTuesday—a day when your gift makes a difference and a statement.

The Library of Congress depends on donations from people like you to produce exhibitions, events, programs, and activities that connect millions of people across the nation and around the world with our unique collections, experts, and services.

Gifts bring the Library to life with music, dance, film, sound, culture, scholarship, research, discussions and ideas. Your gift, no matter the size, will support diverse programs that are entirely FREE for everyone to enjoy, and will make the Library’s treasures and services more accessible.

Help spread the word today and encourage your friends and family to make a gift to the nation’s library, your gateway to understanding the world!

#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration.

This year is the second year the Library of Congress is participating in #GivingTuesday—a global giving movement. On Tuesday, November 27, we are asking you to make a gift to spark a lifelong adventure of learning.

Your gift supports FREE exhibitions, events, programs, and activities that connect millions of people across the nation and around the world with our unique collections, experts, and services.

The Library of Congress is your library, your gateway to understanding the world. There is so much to discover, not only the nation’s memory, but the world’s—information from all corners of the earth, in more than 470 languages. With millions of items available online, you can access the Library’s treasures from anywhere and connect with us in ways that are personally relevant and valuable.

Save the Date to Make Your Gift!

Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.

Letters About Literature, the Library of Congress reading-and-writing contest now in its 26^th year, is accepting applications beginning Nov. 1 for the 2018-19 cycle. For the first time, letters will be submitted electronically. Letters About Literature asks students in grades 4-12 to read a book, poem, speech or essay by an author, living or dead, to think about how that work affected them and to write to the author on the work’s impact.

Click here for more information.

The Library of Congress will mark the 155th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's delivery of the Gettysburg Address with a discussion of the speech and a #LettersToLincoln transcribe-a-thon for volunteers on and offsite. 

Tune in Monday, November 19 at 10 a.m. ET for this special event.

• Read more information on this special event.
• Watch LIVE on YouTube

Ever wanted to explore the Library’s collections but didn't know where to start? Join us and Library of Congress Innovator-in-Residence Jer Thorp in a Twitter takeover as he takes a #SerendipityRun through the collections on our Twitter account from 1-4 PM ET, Thursday, November 8.

What’s a #SerendipityRun? Click here to find out – and join us this Thursday!

The Library of Congress will award the 2018 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry to Jorie Graham for her 2017 book “Fast.” Graham will receive the award and read selections from her work at the Library on 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6.

Click here for more information.