Library of Congress

US Congress research library

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June 2024 Restored funding for Sunday library services.
November 26 2023 NYPL discontinued Sunday services at select branches and reduced adult and children's programs due to budget constraints related to the New York City migrant housing crisis.
February 14 2023 Lilly Endowment gifted a $2.5 million, five-year grant to launch programs fostering understanding of religious cultures in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
March 16 2022 Opened the Charleston Library, the newest branch in the New York Public Library system, located in Staten Island.
2021 Julius C. Jefferson Jr. completed his term as president of the American Library Association
October 5 2021 NYPL eliminated all late fees for book and item returns, clearing existing patron debts from their records.
October 5 2021 Eliminated all late book fees and cleared existing patron debt, a policy initiated by library president Anthony Marx in 2011.
January 6 2021 Library's Madison Building and Cannon House Office Building were the first buildings in the Capitol Complex to be evacuated during the Capitol riots.
2020 Julius C. Jefferson Jr. became president of the American Library Association
2020 Celebrated 125th anniversary by calculating and publishing a list of most checked-out books, with 'The Snowy Day' topping the list.
2020 NYPL celebrated its 125th anniversary by calculating and publishing a list of its most checked-out books of all time.
2018 Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden retired the Library of Congress Living Legend program, ending the recognition of creative contributors to American life.
July 2018 The New York Public Library launched an initiative allowing NYC library card holders free access to 33 prominent New York cultural institutions, including the Whitney Museum and the Guggenheim Museum.
2017 Library announced the Librarian-in-Residence program to support the future generation of librarians.
2017 The Rose Main Reading Room and Public Catalog Room were separately designated as New York City landmarks.
June 2017 Launched Subway Library, a collaborative initiative with Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Public Library, MTA, and Transit Wireless, providing New York City subway riders with digital access to e-books, excerpts, and short stories.
2016 Julius C. Jefferson Jr. completed his term as president of the Freedom to Read Foundation
2016 NYPL released the SimplyE app, allowing patrons to explore and check out ebooks from multiple vendors with increased ease, and made the app's code open source.
September 14 2016 Carla Hayden sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress, the first woman and first African American to hold the position.
2015 James H. Billington retired after 28 years of service as Librarian of Congress.
2015 BookOps facility processed and sorted almost eight million library items, consolidating previously separate departmental functions into a single location for improved efficiency.
2014 Launched 'Library Simplified' project to improve e-book checkout processes for library patrons.
2013 With a major gift from David Rubenstein, the library established the Library of Congress Literacy Awards. BARD, a digital talking books mobile app, was also started.
2013 Julius C. Jefferson Jr. became president of the Freedom to Read Foundation
February 2013 New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries announced a merger of their technical services departments, creating BookOps, a centralized facility in Long Island City aimed at saving approximately $3.5 million annually and improving library services.
2012 Congress.gov website launched to provide a state-of-the-art framework for Congress and the public.
2011 Completion of the major restoration project. The Main Branch was renamed after Stephen A. Schwarzman in recognition of his significant financial contribution.
2010 The library sponsored the Gateway to Knowledge mobile exhibition, visiting ninety sites across states east of the Mississippi.
2010 NYPL reduced staff by approximately 16 percent as part of their consolidation program and moved back-office operations to a new Library Services Center in Long Island City.
April 2010 The library announced plans to archive all public communication on Twitter, including communications since Twitter's launch in March 2006.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles New York Public Library, Library of Congress Living Legend, Library of Congress & National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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