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Find the latest news and updates from the library. If you are a reporter working on a news story, please contact the library's public information officer, George Williams via email at George.Williams2@dc.gov or by phone at (202) 727-1184.

Cathartic Horror (and Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Days)

It used to feel strange to me that people liked horror, liked anything that made them uncomfortable. There are still many things that I’m unwilling to read, even as a librarian and even as someone who tries to read pretty broadly. But I can enjoy it now and even appreciate it as a vital part of storytelling tradition. The below book suggestions and thoughts are a suggested entry point to appreciating October's Scary Reads.

Memory Lab Transfer Guides

The Memory Lab provides equipment for personal archiving of documents, home movies and photographs. It's a do-it-yourself (DIY) model, meaning we provide step-by-step instructions, but you control the process from start to finish. Please review transfer instructions for the format you are digitizing.

(Mis)Information Lab | Vaccines

Vaccines help keep everyone safe from diseases, both individually and on a community level, and have been used in some form since the 18th century. But in the last few decades, misinformation about the safety and efficacy of vaccines has been spreading, leading to lower vaccination rates.

(Mis)Information Lab | Critical Race Theory and Book Bans

In 2023 the number of books banned in the United States rose to 4,250 unique book titles (as reported by the American Library Association), a national record. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is one umbrella term by which multiple, and sometimes over a hundred books are banned at once. Learn the history of CRT, how it is conflated with other topics, and why CRT is the target of book bans nationwide.

(Mis)Information Lab | Cell Phones and Cancer

Because cell phones give off radiation and certain types of radiation are known to cause cancer, some people are concerned that cell phones may cause cancer. There have also been a few studies that show that it is possible that cell phones may cause cancer, but there have been problems with those studies. Most studies, organizations and government agencies agree that there is no current evidence that suggests that cell phones cause cancer.