Review by Polly Conway, Common Sense Education | Updated November 2013

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Library of Congress

Name: Library of Congress
Item: Library of Congress
Rating: 3
Author: Polly Conway

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Visit our largest library's online collection of multimedia goodies

Subjects & skills

Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.

1–12

Common Sense says (See details)

Teachers say (13 Reviews)

Take a look inside

4 images

The Teaching with Primary Sources program helps educators use the site's content.

The Ask a Librarian feature allows you to contact a librarian (and maybe even chat).

Kids and Families is filled with content that kids can enjoy directly on the site.

Everyday Mysteries is a fun way for kids to discover the answers to scientific questions.

Pros: A well-designed resource is bound to exist for nearly any subject you look up, and everything is totally free.

Cons: It's a bit overwhelming, like walking into the actual Library of Congress; there's almost too much to look through.

Bottom Line: The Library of Congress delivers the best of America's past and present, but it's a little tricky to navigate.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

You can send older students here to explore and and perform research on their own. For younger students, you may want to find snippets of content and adjust the information for your own lesson plans. It could also be fun to create a "virtual field trip" to the Library of Congress. You can share the library's beginnings as a government institution, show students images of the building itself, and then let them take a look around online.

What Is It?

Library of Congress is an online version of the real thing -- the world's largest library and all the resources housed therein. There's no log-in or way to save information; it's just a place to visit and find information in all formats, including text, audio, and video. The home page features a rotating group of Collection Highlights under subjects like American Memory, Prints and Photographs, Maps, Historic Newspapers, and more. Click on any of these, and you'll be taken to the full list of content by subject. For the most kid-friendly stuff, click Kids and Families; you'll find links to subsites like Everyday Mysteries, a place full of fun science facts, or Today in History.

Is It Good for Learning?

It's the Library of Congress: Overall, it's amazing. You can see actual manuscripts of unperformed Yiddish plays from the early part of the century, look at a map of the Governorates of Bahrain, or hear Judy Blume speak during a National Book Festival webcast. The library has done an excellent job digitizing this content, and it's a great gift to have these resources readily accessible. However, even with the thoughtful organization, it can be a little overwhelming. It can be difficult to find content especially for kids, and some of the links designated as kid-friendly are a little dry for young people to explore on their own.

Rating Details

Overall Rating

Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Design is simple but not super kid-friendly. Some content is pretty dry, but you can find engaging multimedia. It's the Library of Congress, so it's hard to complain -- the resources are quality and seemingly endless.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Incredible depth and variety give kids the chance to make discoveries about America's history and beyond. They'll also see why it's important to document the events and people that make up a culture.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Library of Congress has Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr extensions, and there's help when needed. It could be a bonus if kids could log in and save favorites or revisit a book they've been reading online.

Common Sense Reviewer

Polly Conway Classroom teacher

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Featured review by
Amy K. , Classroom teacher

Classroom teacher

Cornell Senior High School
Coraopolis, United States

A wealth of primary sources to explore!

This website contains a wealth of knowledge, but even for experienced users can be hard to navigate. Using already curated primary source sets, or links like Chronicling America, are easy for students. I also print out primary sources for students to use. Their "ask a librarian" button is available for teachers and students who are struggling to navigate the site. Additionally, they have regional partners around the country (generally colleges), that will train teachers to use the site and even print ...

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