"You Don't Have to be a VIP to Use the LOC"

"The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.
The Library's mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations." www.loc.gov

I read an interesting article in the Tampa Tribune about the Library of Congress. I never would have known that just anyone can get a library card for this library and go in and use the books there. They even have popular fiction (although you are not allowed to take the books out of the library). You are allowed to go into the Main Reading Room and use your computer (they have the internet) or read the books available. They have more than 130 million items there...a big step up from the local library.
While it may not be an everyday experience, it would be neat to go and see one of the "big guns" in the library world. This seems like a trip every future librarian should make.

Orndorff, Amy. (2008, March 30). You Don't Have to be a VIP to Use the LOC. Tampa Tribune p. 6