Several years ago I was at the Library of Congress and asked where to go to get to the stacks. The guard told me that the stacks were closed. I asked, when did that happen? He replied that the Library of Congress had never had open stacks. The funny thing is, I knew he was wrong, because in high school I went to the Library of Congress a couple of times and I remember roaming the stacks, which were positioned sort of like spokes in a wheel. It was so cool to go to the stacks and see all the books written by an author. (I also remember looking for the book, "Get Even: The Complete Book of Dirty Tricks," which was in the card catalog--remember those?--but not on the shelves. But only Members of Congress can check books out of the Library of Congress. Hmmm.....) It's annoying how people can be so sure of themselves. The guard had probably been working there 10 years and so he thought he knew everything about the place.
Just one of those things
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Andrew Gelman's Books
Would be worth becoming a member of Congress just for that privilege! I did not know that - I wonder if they actually do, or if it is just on the books...
funny, when I was in high school and visited the LOC, I was told no one under 18 was allowed to look at a book, much less the stacks.
times change.
Of course it's annoying: it's
bullshit.
Yeah, I agree. Sometimes, I wonder if we, as a society, are all wrong on the view that "confidence" as purely a positive aspect. I cannot tell you the problems I have had because someone was very confident and very incorrect. Not to get religious, but the phase "the meek shall inherit the earth", sounds like, if there is a heaven, jackasses need not apply.
My freshman year in college, the Campus Restaurant had milkshakes for, um, $3.10 I think it was. The next year, they were $3.40. I said to the waitress "Oh, a bit of a price increase on the milkshakes" and she said "no, they've always been $3.40." I said "I don't mind, you're allowed to raise the prices, I still want one," and she got irritated and said "we're not raising the prices, they've always been $3.40." I'm still not sure what happened there---was I wrong? (surely not!). Was she lying? Had she really forgotten that they had just raised the prices within the past few months? I still mull this over sometimes, 25 years later.
I'm pretty sure the guard was right. There are some materials in open stacks, but best as I can tell via Google books the LOC has always been described as a closed stack library -- from the beginning of the twentieth century through the end of it.
"But only Members of Congress can check books out of the Library of Congress."
Although you confidently state this as a fact, it isn't actually true: there are several types of people on the Hill who are not Members of Congress but can check out books. At the least, librarians at the LoC have check-out access, but the LoC is a separate agency, not a part of Congress, so no librarian counts as a Member of Congress. Personally, the 'This book on loan from the Library of Congress' card has become a familiar sight to me, due to my acquaintance with various people who work on the Hill in non-Member of Congress capacities.
I went in 1975 and the stacks were closed. I had been told, right or wrong, that they held a copy of every book published in the US. What better place to find out-of-print Oz books! My sister and I made photocopies for two days.
Can Congressional staffers peruse the stacks?
Eric
To all:
1. Yes, I knew that others besides congressmembers can check out books. I simplified it to make the story better.
2. They definitely let me in the stacks when I was in high school. But I don't know the official policy. Maybe I had to fill out some sort of form to get into the stacks; I don't remember.