Appointments are optional, but encouraged. To help us better serve you, request a research appointment to ensure collection material is accessible during your visit at the Library. The Library of Congress asks all visitors to follow our COVID-19 health screening protocols, which are based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and the Office of the Attending Physician of the U.S. Capitol. For additional instructions, see the Researcher Scheduling page.

About Collections & Services

• Collection Overview & Highlights
• Obtaining Copies of Recordings
• Preserving Your Sound Recordings
• Preservation Publications
• Web Radio Recording Schedule
• National Recording Preservation Board
• Donations
• Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center
• National Recording Preservation Plan

Research Tools

• Guidelines for Listening
• Reference Assistance
• LibGuides
• How to Find Recordings
• (SONIC) Recorded Sound Catalog
• Finding Aids
• NBC Radio Collection Guide
• Radio Form/Genre Guide
• Show Music on Record Database
• Jazz on the Screen Database

What's Online

• Video Tutorial on using the Recorded Sound Research Center
• Food for Thought: Speakers at the National Press Club
• Joe Smith Collection
• Tony Schwartz Collection
• WWOZ Collection
• Recordings Available Online
• Ordering Poetry Recordings

• Location:
  101 Independence Ave. SE
  James Madison Building, LM 113
  Performing Arts Reading Room
  Washington, D.C. 20540-4690
  Map showing location


• Hours:
  Monday - Friday, 9:30am to 4:00pm
  Closed Weekends &  Federal Holidays


• Contact

• All sound recordings are stored offsite and researchers must schedule a listening appointment at least two weeks in advance.
• Most manuscript collections are stored offsite and require a week to be retrieved.

The Recorded Sound Research Center provides access to the commercial and archival audio holdings of the Library of Congress. The collection dates from 1926 when Victor Records donated over 400 discs to the Library's Music Division to supplement its print and manuscript holdings. In the custody of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center since 1978, the collection has grown to include over 2 million items encompassing audio formats from cylinders to CDs. The holdings complement the field recordings of the American Folklife Center and the moving image collections served in the Moving Image Research Center.