The Library of Congress is offering a new series of grants to individuals and organizations working to document cultures and traditions of Black, Indigenous, and communities of color traditionally underrepresented in the United States.

The Community Collections grants from the Library’s American Folklife Center will enable many to document their cultural life and experiences from their own perspectives, while enriching the Library’s holdings with diverse materials featuring creativity and knowledge found at the local level. The funding opportunities were announced today and are open for applications through Sept. 7.

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Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter today announced that Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has appointed David Carson, Monica P. McCabe and Brad Newberg as the first copyright claims officers on the newly established Copyright Claims Board.  

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The Library of Congress announced today that U.S. congressional records dating back to the days of printing presses and the telegraph are now easily accessible on mobile devices. With this latest update of Congress.gov — the official website for U.S. federal legislative information — the Library has transitioned over 33,000 bills and resolutions crafted by Congress between 1799 and 1873 (the 6^th to 42^nd U.S. Congresses) to a modern, user-friendly web format.

The Library’s “A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation” collection has been a premier source of historic legal documents since it was first published online in 1998, serving as an access point to the lawmaking of early America.

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Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced today that the 2021 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction will be awarded to Joy Williams, who is receiving the prize for a lifetime of outstanding work.

Hayden selected Williams as this year’s winner based on nominations from more than 60 distinguished literary figures, including former winners of the prize, acclaimed authors and literary critics from around the world. The prize ceremony will take place online during the 2021 National Book Festival, Sept. 17-26.

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The Library of Congress will re-open its doors to visitors with free but limited timed and ticketed entry three days a week, starting on Thursday, July 15. Guests will be able to explore the spectacular Thomas Jefferson building and several exhibits. The Library will also host its Summer Movies on the Lawn series on Thursday nights, starting July 8 and running through Aug. 5.

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The Library of Congress announced today the membership of the new Copyright Public Modernization Committee (CPMC), which is being convened to enhance communication and provide a public forum for the technology-related aspects of the U.S. Copyright Office’s modernization initiative.  The first CPMC meeting will be hosted by the Library on July 22, 2021.

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The Library of Congress will host its fourth annual “LOC Summer Movies on the Lawn” outdoor film festival this summer, starting on July 8. The series of five movies, which showcases iconic films from the Library’s National Film Registry, will be presented on Thursday evenings at sundown between July 8 and Aug. 5 on the north lawn of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, across the street from the U.S. Capitol.

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“Japan and American Children’s Books: A Journey” documents the evolving portrayal of Japan in American children’s books over nearly 200 years, highlighting the shift from fanciful accounts by travelers and missionaries to personal narratives by Japanese American authors and illustrators that provided a more accurate and respectful presentation of Japanese culture.

Written by Sybille A. Jagusch, chief of the Library of Congress’ Children’s Literature Center, the book is published by Rutgers University Press in association with the Library of Congress.

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Three renowned researchers in digital humanities and computer science are joining forces with the Library of Congress on three inaugural Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud projects, exploring how biblical quotations, photographic styles and “fuzzy searches” reveal more about the collections in the world’s largest Library than first meets the eye.

Supported by a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded in 2019, the initiative combines cutting edge technology with the Library’s vast collections to support digital humanities research at scale.

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The Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) will observe Post-Traumatic Stress Awareness Month with a panel discussion on Wednesday, June 23, as part of a virtual program titled “Post Traumatic Stress & Music: The Healing Power of Song.”

The discussion will debut at 8 p.m. ET through the Veterans History Project Facebook page where panelists and a moderator will be available to answer questions and address remarks in the comments section.

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A series of new events from the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, the Pillars of Democracy, will examine the challenges facing major institutions in American society. The series will debut in July and continue through May 2022.

The Kluge Center, with the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution, will host the series to explore how institutions should work in a functioning society, and grapple with the question of how their decline can be counteracted. 

The series begins on July 8 (click here to register) with an analysis of the U.S. Congress. 

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Over the past year, like you, the Library of Congress has adjusted, recalibrated and learned. We want to continue to learn from you about what more we can do. As a friend of the Library of Congress, your feedback is critical to us as we look to the future. The Library of Congress is your library and we want to build plans based on YOU.

Please take a moment to complete the survey and share more about how you’ve engaged with the Library, what we can do better, and what more you want to see from us. No matter where you are in the country (or world!), or how you’ve connected with the Library before – we want your feedback.

Take the survey: https://wh.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=162090351735&src=1

The survey will close in 10 days, so please take 10 minutes to complete it now. We look forward to sharing the insights we learn and, most importantly, using your feedback to chart the path forward.

Thanks for your time!

Carla Hayden
Librarian of Congress

The Library of Congress has acquired audio diaries featuring more than 200 frontline healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19, a collection that provides first-hand testimonies from hospitals and communities across the country as the public health crisis unfolded. The audio library was donated by The Nocturnists, a San Francisco-based independent medical storytelling community and podcast.

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The 2021 Library of Congress National Book Festival will invite audiences to create their own festival experiences from programs in a range of formats and an expanded schedule over 10 days from Sept. 17 through Sept. 26. The spectacular lineup includes authors, poets and illustrators from America and around the world.

Subscribe to the festival blog here for updates on plans for the festival.

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Significant updates have been made to American copyright law governing music licensing and sound recordings, and these changes carry implications for libraries and archives across the country, as detailed in a new report published today by the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.

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The Library of Congress today announced the appointment of 42 undergraduate and graduate students to its Junior Fellows Summer Internship Program. The 2021 cohort marks the 30^th class of Junior Fellows, a signature initiative of the Library’s since 1991.

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The Library of Congress continues its series of online literary events with programs featuring author Paul Hendrickson, whose biography on Frank Lloyd Wright was created through extensive use of the Library’s collections, and Nobel Prize in Literature winner Mario Vargas Llosa in conversation with Edith Grossman, his Spanish-to-English translator.

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Beginning on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, the Library of Congress will reopen four reading rooms to allow research access for a limited number of registered readers by appointment only, the Library announced today.

This represents the first step in the Library’s plan to gradually resume on-site public services and access, while incorporating proven health and safety policies and procedures. The Library expects to resume additional reading room services as conditions allow, followed by a return of limited, ticketed public access to Library buildings this summer.

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The Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) has announced the winners of its national awards for federal librarianship, which recognize the many innovative ways that federal libraries, librarians and library technicians fulfill the information demands of the government, business and scholarly communities and the American public.

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The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) at the Library of Congress today honored two of its cooperating libraries for their outstanding service to readers with visual, physical or print disabilities.

The Iowa Library for the Blind and Print Disabled in Des Moines, Iowa, received the 2020–2021 Regional Library of the Year Award, while the Bayside Area and Special Services Library in Virginia Beach, Virginia, received the Sub-regional Library/Advisory and Outreach Center of the Year Award.

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Edited by Joy Harjo, the first Native poet to serve as U.S. Poet Laureate, “LIVING NATIONS, LIVING WORDS: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry” is a powerful, moving anthology that celebrates the breadth of Native poets writing today. The new anthology is published by W. W. Norton & Company in association with the Library of Congress.

The new 222-page book is available in paperback ($15.00) from the Library of Congress Shop, https://library-of-congress-shop.myshopify.com/ and from book retailers worldwide.

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The Library of Congress today announced fiscal year 2022 Teaching with Primary Sources grant opportunities. Applications are sought from organizations that aim to incorporate Library of Congress resources into educational programs and materials for learners representing diverse professions and communities. The application deadline is May 28, 2021. 

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Mothers have volunteered to serve in the military since the Revolutionary War, where they held traditional roles as nurses, seamstresses or cooks and, since 2015, in designated frontline combat roles.

On Thursday, May 6 at 12 p.m. EST, the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) invites the public to a virtual panel titled “Motherhood and the Military” through the VHP Facebook page. The panelists and moderator will be available to answer questions and address remarks in the comments section.   

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