I am NOT an avid reader. Not because I don't care for books, or knowledge. Far from it. I crave new information. New ideas that flourish the mind. Who I am, and how my brain works, and how I process information, makes reading difficult, especially for any length of time. Writing can be the same for me.
That doesn't mean that I cannot appreciate a library, especially one that celebrates all forms of creativity. The Library of Congress (LOC) in Washington, DC is a joyous celebration of that on a grand scale. It is the national library of the United States of America, or USA.
If you're not aware, Washington, DC, or District of Columbia, is the central location of the USA's federal government. That district is separate from any of the 50 states that make up the USA, and is situated between the states of Virginia and Maryland. Among the federal buildings there is our national library, depicted above.
Libraries often require people to have library cards to use the various services they offer, like borrowing books and other materials for personal use. I have a LOC library card from decades ago, which enabled those privileges for me. However, I chose to update my card to a newer version. What I didn't know was doing that made it easy for me to use the Reading Room there.
What a treat! This isn't the normal collection of nook-and-cranny spaces many libraries have for reading. This is a grand celebration of human knowledge and endeavors. This temple of discovery is both majestic and humbling, and an honor to sit in while imagining the breadth of citizens that have gone before me. The collections held at the LOC are vast, and housed at so many other locations that it may take two days for delivery of obscure content to be delivered there, but the LOC will deliver.
Like many libraries, such information is increasingly available on-line as digital copies. But there's nothing like holding contents in hand, and feeling the tactile transfer while the eyes port information into the mind. To be able to absorb that vortex of expression here was an experience I long to return to again, which I will while sitting in a meager cubicle at the library back home.
