Contact: Audrey Fischer (202) 707-0022
Website: Library of Congress Magazine (LCM)

September 20, 2012

New Library of Congress Magazine Debuts

The new Library of Congress Magazine (LCM) debuts this week. The bi-monthly, general-interest magazine features educational and entertaining content about both current and historical events.

"Like our online offerings and exhibitions, the new magazine pulls the Library’s amazing collections off the shelves and out of the archive boxes, bringing information, images and history together in an entertaining and informative package," said Gayle Osterberg, the Library’s director of communications and executive editor. "LCM will be an important channel for communicating the full breadth and scope of the Library’s mission, its expert staff, its collections and its myriad services to Congress and to the nation."

LCM is the next-generation publication of a Library magazine that began circulation as a mimeographed staff newsletter during World War II. The transformed magazine, which will publish six issues per year, has been re-imagined to better serve contemporary audiences with information about upcoming programs and more general-interest features that inspire research and learning.

"The story of the Library is told in this first issue of our new ‘Library of Congress Magazine,’" said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "We hope you will like our new magazine, and that it will lead you to explore the millions of books, manuscripts, photos, movies, maps and music in our collection, either in-person or online."

In the cover story, readers will learn how, out of the ashes of the nascent congressional library—which was burned by the British during the War of 1812—has grown the world’s largest repository of knowledge. Feature stories explore how the Library acquires its collection—now comprising more than 151 million items—and mark the centennial of copyright protection for films.

In regular departments such as "How Do I?"; "Online Offerings"; "For You at the Library"; "Shop the Library" and "Support the Library" readers will be given information such as how to use the Library and its resources; see what’s new online and for sale in the Library’s Shop, including new Library publications; find out about events they can attend (or view as webcasts) and exhibitions they can view in person and online; and learn how donors support the nation’s library.

Each issue is beautifully illustrated with historic images drawn from the Library’s collections and contemporary photographs. The premier issue includes a copy of the "Star-Spangled Banner" signed by composer Francis Scott Key, Armenian medieval manuscripts, presidential campaign posters and contemporary images of Library people and places.

The magazine’s circulation of 12,000 includes Members of Congress and libraries and educational institutions throughout the nation and the world. The publication is also accessible free online at www.loc.gov/lcm/.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 151 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs, publications and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov.

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PR 12-169
09/20/12
ISSN 0731-3527

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