November 23, 2001 Library of Congress Welcomes Visitors

The Library of Congress would like to remind the public that all exhibitions and reading rooms remain open during the holiday season.

The Library's gloriously restored Thomas Jefferson Building, located at 10 First Street S.E., is open to the general public Monday- Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The James Madison and John Adams buildings (as well as the reading rooms in the Jefferson Building) open at 8:30 a.m. to accommodate researchers and others official visitors to the Library. All Library buildings are closed on Sundays and federal holidays, including Christmas and New Year's Day.

Walk-in tourists are welcome, as well as those on scheduled group tours.

Free guided tours of the Thomas Jefferson Building are offered at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 p.m. Monday- Friday, and on Saturday at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. beginning in the Visitors Center of the Thomas Jefferson Building (Capitol South Metro stop).

Current exhibitions include two permanent exhibitions, "World Treasures of the Library of Congress: Beginnings" and "American Treasures of the Library of Congress," which display a huge variety of unexpected and unique items drawn from the Library's vast collections, as well as a temporary exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints, engravings and drawings titled "The Floating World of Ukiyo-e: Shadows, Dreams and Substance." "Margaret Mead: Human Nature and the Power of Culture," the first major retrospective of the renowned anthropologist's work based on the Library's Mead collection, opens in the Northwest Pavilion of the Jefferson Building on November 30 and remains on view through May 2002.

In addition the permanent exhibitions in the Bob Hope Gallery of Entertainment and the George and Ira Gershwin Room, both located on the ground floor of the Jefferson Building, will bring a smile to the lips and a song to the heart of every visitor.

A full schedule of films, lectures, readings, concerts, and symposia continues. For more information, consult the Library's Web site, www.loc.gov, or call (202) 707-8000. Click on "The Library Today," and then "Calendar of Events" for an updated schedule of activities.