Yesterday, I met one of my students at the Library of Congress. We originally were going to sit in the 6th floor cafe (the cafe with the great view) to talk about her project, but instead I decided to do some active Library of Congress propaganda. We first got her a library card, which took about one minute. Then, we did a tour, looking at the Main Reading Room, the Hispanic Reading Room, the European Reading Room, the Great Hall, and even my own shelf in one of the reading rooms. We talked about her project at various benches throughout the library. And, voila!, it is now much more likely that she will use the LoC.
The great Russian historian Richard Stites was known for requiring his students to read in the LoC. This semester, I saw the undergraduate students of another colleague doing their required reading time in the LoC. A couple of years ago, I met my graduate class in the LoC, where we got library cards, did a tour, tested out ordering books, and discussed the reading of the week (in the basement cafe).
Your students, especially graduate students, might be excited to see all the great academics in the readings rooms. The European Reading Room was always known as a place where various famous and non-famous exiles hung out. These days, there are regular sightings of many great academics. Here are just a few examples:
The great Russian historian Richard Stites was known for requiring his students to read in the LoC. This semester, I saw the undergraduate students of another colleague doing their required reading time in the LoC. A couple of years ago, I met my graduate class in the LoC, where we got library cards, did a tour, tested out ordering books, and discussed the reading of the week (in the basement cafe).
Your students, especially graduate students, might be excited to see all the great academics in the readings rooms. The European Reading Room was always known as a place where various famous and non-famous exiles hung out. These days, there are regular sightings of many great academics. Here are just a few examples:
- Ben Cowan, David Sartorius, and Julia Young in the Hispanic Room.
- Johanna Bockman, Michael David-Fox, Steven Harris, Marcy Norton, Arpad von Klimo, Bernardo Piciché, and Andrew Zimmerman in the European Reading Room.
- Emily Landau in the Folklife Center.
- Gershon Greenberg, Emily Landau, Paul Landau, Sara Scalenghe, Dan Schwarz, and Jonathan Skolnik in the Main Reading Room.
Invite your students to join the intellectual in-crowd.
P.S. Faculty, feel free to let me know which reading room you are working in and I'll add you to the list!
From M.: It took me 13 years (embarrassing!) to figure out some of the secrets that make it a pleasant place to work, e.g. specialist rooms & long-term hold shelf. But now I'm in love.
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