Whether you are new in town or just haven’t gotten around to perusing the wealth of knowledge maintained by the Library of Congress, now is the time to get schooled in the art of getting one’s proper learn on.  

The Humanities and Social Sciences Division typically hosts twice monthly orientation sessions (one evening, one day) for those interested in mining the LOC’s vast collections. The inaugural tutorial of the new year is scheduled to take place on Jan. 12 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The hands-on lesson — attendees are encouraged to retrieve a Reader ID card (available in Room 140 of the Madison Building) prior to the staff-led walk-through — tackles researching basics including: selecting the ideal reading room (there are nearly two dozen), navigating in-house databases and card catalogs, and figuring out how to retrieve hard-to-find materials from a closed-stack library.