Frequently Asked Questions: General

Stacks is a restricted online portal to stacks.loc.gov that houses non-public domain digital collection items like newspapers and other periodicals. There is at least one designated workstation available in every reading room/research center that will allow you to search and access the materials - the content can be viewed and printed out, but not downloaded or saved. 

What digital content is available in Stacks? Stacks contains digital content from across the Library Collections and Services Group but primarily contains rights-restricted digital content from the Library’s general and international collections. Highlights available in Stacks include electronic books, journals, and newspapers received as a part of Cataloging-in-Publication, copyright deposit, and digitized titles from the Library’s print collections. Stacks also includes smaller amounts of rights-restricted audio recordings, films and videos, legal gazettes, manuscripts, music scores, and maps.

Access to Rights-Restricted Content

Where can I find/use Stacks?  Access to this rights-restricted content is only available onsite at the Library of Congress to registered researchers. Contact reference staff corresponding to your research area from the following list of reading rooms or view the embedded step-by-step video below for more information about the Library's rights-restricted digital content currently available in Stacks, the primary system for accessing rights-restricted digital materials in the Library of Congress's permanent collection.

• African & Middle Eastern Reading Room, Jefferson Building, Room LJ-229
• Asian Reading Room, Jefferson Building, Room LJ-150
• American Folklife Research Center, Jefferson Building, Room LJ-G53
• European Reading Room, Jefferson Building, LJ-249
• Geography & Map Reading Room, Madison Building, Room LM-B01
• Hispanic Reading Room, Jefferson Building, LJ-240
• La Follette Congressional Reading Room, Madison Building, Room LM-202 (for Members of Congress and their staff only)
• Law Library Reading Room, Madison Building, Room LM-242
• Manuscript Reading Room, Madison Building, Room LM-101
• Microform and Electronic Resources Center (MERC), Jefferson Building, Room LJ-139
• Moving Image Research Center, Madison Building, Room LM-336
• Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room, Madison Building, Room LM-133
• Performing Arts Reading Room, Madison Building, Room LM-113
• Recorded Sound Research Center, Madison Building, Room LM-113
• Science and Business Reading Room, Adams Building, Room LA-508