Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room at the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the ultimate special library. Taken as a whole it's in a class akin to national libraries around the globe. The library is comprised of many buildings, divisions, and collections. It's too difficult to cover the library in one post. This is the first in a series of posts about the special collections and reading rooms found within the Library of Congress (LOC). The LOC has hosted a series of webinars through Fedlink about Area Studies. I attended a recent one titled "Research Treasure Troves of the Serial & Government Publications Division: Collections and Services" (Link to Webinar) which was hosted by the Serial and Government Publication Division of LOC. The webinar was entirely fascinating, however what impressed me most was the revelation that Library of Congress preserves an impressive collection of Comic Books.

The Library of Congress has many reading rooms for researchers to access the plethora of materials in the collections. The Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading Room is inside the Madison building, one of three LOC buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.



I have not yet found the time to visit this reading room, but hope to eventually. For those not able to make a trip in person, some resources are available online through the division's work with national programs such as the National Digital Newspaper Program, some webcasts about the collection, search tools, and a bibliography of Internet resources outside of the Library of Congress. The bulk of the collection is only available inside the reading room, however some duplication services may be available for off site patrons, for a fee.

The Comic Book Collection at LOC is probably one of the largest in the United States. Full access to the fragile materials is limited to serious researchers, but there are an extensive number of titles available in the Comic Book Fiche collection which can be photocopied following the general photocopy guidelines. For some instant gratification, and fun times also check out the digitization project at University of Nebraska - Lincoln Libraries, Government Comics Collection. These two covers, taken as screenshots from the digital copy online link to the full online version. These are just two of the many gems worth browsing through in the University of Nebraska Libraries digital collections.

US Institute of Peace Ron Silver Library

The Jeannette Rankin Library Program at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) "serves as a depository of USIP cutting edge research publications. The core library collection encompasses over 4,000 items dealing with peace building, conflict prevention, management, and resolution, diplomacy, negotiation, and mediation, promotion of rule of law, state- building and civil society, reformation and strengthening of peace education systems." - From the USIP Website.

The USIP was established by Congress with the 1984 United States Institute of Peace Act as an independent agency purposed with conflict management. Located in a recently completed beautiful headquarters building across the street from the Department of Defense, and adjacent to the Potomac Annex facility on Navy Hill, the library is open to the public although the building follows strict security protocols. On-site research requires an appointment. The space itself is compact, dominated by the reference desk, with a moderately sized print collection, and focus on digital collections.

The library does provide access to an extensive amount of collection materials through online digital collections, catalogs, and subject guides. Their website is well worth the time to browse for a wealth of information in the library's subject areas. See this page for further details on collections and library services. Check here for further information on USIP publications and tools, such as links to an archive of winning National Peace Essay Contents Essays, congressional testimonies by USIP staff, and Oral Histories. The website is an impressive effort to provide access to information on a global scale.

Hugh and Jane Ferguson Seattle Room

Many public libraries contain special collections, which are specifically curated subject or format collections that are generally, but not necessarily locally focused. Several special collections have developed over time at the Seattle Public Library (SPL). twenty-seven branches and mobile services create the SPL system. The Seattle Room at SPL contains the Seattle collection:

"The Seattle Collection contains items about Seattle's history and includes published materials, Seattle city documents, newspaper clippings, maps and atlases, high school yearbooks, oral histories and more than 30,000 photographs, including photos of historic Seattle, Native Americans, streets, businesses and portraits. The collection also features paintings, drawings, metalwork, sculpture, prints and photographs, and includes works by notable local artists such as Paul Horiuchi, George Tsutakawa and Frank Okada. The Albert Balch Autograph Collection, part of the Seattle Collection, features original letters, photographs and signed copies of published works. It includes signatures by Helen Keller, Babe Ruth and T. S. Elliot." - SPL Website

The Central branch also holds two additional special collections, an extensive genealogy collection focused on records and families in North America, and an aviation history collection. The library has also made an effort to provide access to collection through curation of digital collections on their website.

The central library has an interesting history, and made many headlines after opening doors to a newly built Central branch, an architecturally fascinating building designed by Rem Koolhaas in 2004.



Another interesting aspect of the Seattle Room are the architectural models of some of the other branches built or re-modeled during the Libraries for All Campaign.

Nasa Goddard Homer E. Newell Memorial Library

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD is one of many National Aeronautics and Space Administration facilities in the United States. Goddard is a research facility with an area of focus on anything that goes into Space that doesn't involve people, which is a simplified explanation from one of the library staff during a tour of the library space at the center.

The library at Goddard is unique in that it closed it's doors to the physical space in January 2012 and has become a fully digital service. The internal memo released in October is describes some of the reason for the change. Here is another article about the shift. The staff now primarily focus on bibliographic and citation research, are embedded with divisions to provide current awareness services on information relevant to research groups, and provide reference services via phone and email to NASA staff. This library is another example of a closed collection serving NASA staff and affiliates, and not open to the public. The Library Website is only available through NASA VPN and on the center campus.

The library does have a Facebook Page, and some information is accessible to the public through virtual library portals. For example, the Balloon Technology Database, which is a collection of digital documents and citations for print materials related to balloon technology. Also, the Library Repository provides access to publications and resources created by the NASA Goddard Space Center. More information about the repository is available here. Another virtual library provided by NASA, administered by NASA Center for Aerospace Information is the NASA Technical Reports Server. For general information and science related reference questions, the public is directed to contact their local public libraries.

I had the opportunity to tour the NASA Goddard Library a few months ago, and was very impressed with the space. I didn't think to take pictures at the time, but the structure is similar in design to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It is a large room with high ceilings and massive picture windows looking out onto the other buildings at the center. There are stacks on two levels, with a Mezzanine. There is office space, seating areas, and computers. The overall design has a very 1960's feel. As the library only recently closed the physical space, the future of the physical collection is still being determined. However, the collection development and new acquisitions has shifted focus to entirely electronic resources. The group did have the opportunity to take a tour of some of the labs, and to see where parts of the James Webb Space Telescope are being worked on. I took some pictures of the lab, and the visitor's center, which is definitely worth the visit if you have the opportunity. These are from my phone, and it was a cold day in January, so not the best pictures, but you get the idea.

ATF National Laboratory Center and Defense Technical Information Center

I recently had the opportunity to visit the National Laboratory Center library within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The facility is located in Beltsville, MD and is not open to the public. The opportunity to visit the library at the laboratory center was eye opening in seeing another side of special libraries, the solo librarian in a secure collection serving only agency staff and existing in an invisible realm from the public eye. Photography was prohibited for security reasons, and the library itself does not have a public website. The librarian in Beltsville also provides remote library services to two satellite collections in Atlanta and San Francisco. The collection consists primarily of journals, with about 5,000 monographs stored among the three library locations. There are also some monographs from the early 1900's stored in a locked archive with compact shelving.

The National Laboratory Center library catalog is managed by the The Department of Justice Libraries. Some of these libraries are slightly more accessible to the public, but primarily serve Department of Justice affiliated users. The shared catalog access across the DOJ increases use and access to collections of information for staff at the National Laboratory, as well as across the DOJ.

Another information center, closed to the public but serving a high level of users within its organization is the Defense Technical Information Center, which provides information services to staff and affiliates of the Department of Defense. Their website is fairly robust and contains a great deal of publicly accessible content on defense related topics. Search the database of public technical reportsor the A-Z directory to see what is publicly accessible on the website.

There are many special libraries and information centers staffed by librarians/information professionals that are 'hidden' from the public view, but serve a crucial need for information services within corporations, government agencies, or non-profit organizations. Some have websites and are able to share resources with the public through digital access, some participate in Inter-library loan and make records available through OCLC. Some are inaccessible due to the secure nature of collections or security of the location. These are fascinating repositories of specialized information run by amazing librarians. If you have an opportunity to visit one, or are lucky enough to work in one, appreciate it, because they are a great part of what is special about special libraries.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Central Library

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has roots as a scientific research agency back to 1807 with the Coast Survey. The NOAA library network provides access to scientific information to NOAA staff, visiting researchers, and members of the public. While the library itself is only accessible by special request for non-NOAA affiliated researchers, much of the collections have been made available online through the central library website, and libraries in the network. See the NOAA Libraries Network to find out more about the national system of NOAA Libraries.


The library uses a union catalog to increase search capabilities to all NOAA collections across the country. NOAA records are also shared in OCLC WorldCat. The central library, and many libraries in the network participate in inter-library loan (ILL) and can provide materials to the general public through ILL requests. The NOAA central library website provides a wealth of information, and access to many aspects of the collection in digital form. See the Collections page for information on virtual libraries, links to digital libraries, and further information on the subject areas of the collection. The library also provides access to reference services to any member of the public through chat, email, or phone.

The library space is a labyrinth containing a vast array of journals, monographs, maps, media, and rare items. To find out more about some of the rare and archival materials at NOAA Central, see this page. I recently volunteered to modify catalog records and reformat some web pages for a digital collection of data. While there I wandered the stacks and snapped some pictures of the shelves, and some of the materials on display.

Information Center at Pugt Sound Regional Council

Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) is the municipal planning organization for the Puget Sound Region. The council is made up of a number of committees that affect growth and development in the north Puget Sound region. The website is a valuable resource for information on transportation, growth management, and economic development in the region. There is also an extensive amount of research available through the links to data resources.

The Information Center at PSRC is "is a clearinghouse for PSRC’s regional data and publications on population, housing, economy, and transportation." The information center is open to the public Monday - Friday during normal business hours. The center primarily provides access to agency publications to the public. The document library can be accessed here, and you can submit a form request to the library to have a print copy of most documents mailed to you. The library staff has also curated an extensive list of useful links for information on a variety of transportation, economic development, and growth management resources on the web.

The information center houses a small collection of monographs and serials which are accessible to the public visiting in person, but are only circulated to agency staff. The library staff are very knowledgeable about the collection and data resources for Census information, and information about the Puget Sound region and Washington State. If you are looking for information about cities, the region, planned growth, projects, or development, drop by during office hours or contact the library staff. To keep up with agency information, you can follow them on Twitter or subscribe to RSS feeds. Here is a photograph of agency resources in the Information Center taken by PSRC staff.

National Institute of Standards and Technology Library

I recently had the opportunity to tour the National Institute of Standards and Technology library, museum, and archive in Gaithersburg, MD. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures on the tour. Here is a picture of the external building from the NIST library website:

The library building also houses a museum collection with artifacts from NIST history, such as the official meter stick, and the very first neon sign. The library staff has developed a digital museum with collections, as well as photographic representations of museum artifacts. The current featured collection is Standardization of Women's Clothing. See their photo gallery for collections of photographs from the museum collection.

The NIST campus is not open to the public, however some access to NIST publications is available through request from the website. Requests to visit the museum are granted in special cases. See the Library FAQ section for more information. The library does offer a vast amount of information about the collections through their virtual library portal. The library is an amazing collection of scientific research and technology information. The collections are primarily for use by staff, however the reference librarians may respond to information requests, or direct users to publicly accessible resources for information.

The campus itself is also interesting, in that it is a secure facility that has become somewhat of a nature preserve. The grounds are kept fairly natural, and contain numerous deer and other wildlife. In 1966 when the agency moved to the Gaithersburg campus, a direct decedent to the famous Apple tree which inspired Sir Issac Newton. I'm told the apples taste a bit mealy and aren't very good.