Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library

The MLK Jr. Memorial Library closed on Saturday, March 4, 2017 for modernization: learn more at dclibrary.org/mlkfuture. Interim services for the MLK Library (including the Library Express location, Special Collections, and the Memory Lab) began on Monday, May 8, 2017. Please visit dclibrary.org/mlkinterim for more information on interim services.
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African American History Culture Museum cover

Staff Pick: National Museum of African American Museum & Culture

New in the collection

The Smithsonian's newest museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, is now open to the public!

I Want a President...

A collective reading - DC

Visit the Great Hall of the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Library and let your voice be heard.   Grab a sticky note and share your vision.   Submissions will be read aloud in front of the White House on October 16.  

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From London into the Past

Over the summer, I joined a small group tour of Great Britain that started in London. It was a great two weeks! I enjoyed exploring the cities and towns where we stopped along the way. Below is a selection of books I read before I went on the tour.  Copies are available from the library system.

Modern Lovers

Market Selects for September 20

Seasonal, Fresh Titles for Your Consumption

On the third Tuesday of each month, library staff set up shop at the FRESHFARM 

Energy of Slaves

The Fossil Fuel Age and After

If a future historian were to map out the great expanse of human history over thousands of years, the fossil fuel age will have occupied a relatively small blip of time. During just several hundred years, humans will have squandered much of the fossil fuels formed over half a billion years. Yet, however brief this era we currently live in will be, many of us consider its way of life to be normal.

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Rebel Readers

Uncensored books for the uncensored mind

Explicit language, homosexuality, politics, violence. Just a few reasons why certain books are deemed unsuitable for society by the "conservative" reader. Imagine what our world be like if we did not have those who dared to push the envelope? As Banned Books Week approaches, let us take some time out of our busy day to honor those authors who not only crossed the line, but erased it. But let's not limit that acknowledgement to authors in the United States. Let's cross our borders and look at writers around the world who shook things up in their homeland. Enjoy! 

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Tuesday Night Movies

A weekly film series for adults at 6 p.m. in Auditorium A-5.

Don't miss these Tuesday Night Movies! September 6 Money Monster After losing his life savings to bad investment advice from a TV guru, a young man threatens the host and the studio with explosives! Starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Directed by Jodie Foster.  98 mins, 2016.  R September 13 Captain America: Civil War

A crowd at the Howard Theater, 1970s

U Street Oral History Project now online

Interviews tell the story of DC's cultural corridor

Now online: our U Street Oral History Project, which gathers first-hand accounts of the historic U Street Corridor neighborhood from its heyday as “Black Broadway” in the 1920s and 1930s through the riots that devastated the area following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the present renewal.

The Memory of Light

Suicide and Depression in Young Adult Literature

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-24 year olds and 90% of those who died by suicide had an underlying mental illness such as depression. Suicide and depression can be difficult subjects to approach, but fortunately, many young adult novels dealing these topics have been written in recent years. Books may provide an excellent way to reach out to teens struggling with depression or dealing with it in their family or friends.

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Lights! Camera! Uncensored!

Celebrating Banned Books Week Through Film

September 6 The Color Purple, Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library, 6 p.m. September 16 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library, 6 p.m. September 21

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