Frequently Asked Questions: Recorded Sound, Audio

Listening Appointments

• Appointments are required for listening to most of the material in our collection. Contact us two weeks before you plan to listen.
• Recordings do not circulate.
• Listeners can telephone the Research Center at (202) 707-7833, or submit an email request through rsrc@loc.gov or at https://ask.loc.gov/recorded-sound/ .
• Patrons must present their Library of Congress library card, which can be obtained in Room LM-133, Madison Building.
• Record notes and jackets may be requested.

A growing number of our recordings have been digitized and are available for listening on demand. All others will take at least two weeks for our engineers to digitize for your listening appointment. Special arrangements are required for requests of more than five items at one time. Certain audio formats will require more time to digitize and will necessitate a longer wait. Please contact the Research Center as soon as possible with large requests or to identify previously digitized recordings.

Patrons are able to use the Research Center without appointment to access the catalogs, reference books, archival collections, microfiche, microfilm and other reference sources.