Interactive History Lessons - The Library of Congress Experience (GALLERY)

Behold the modern library experience.

The recently renewed Library of Congress includes a bunch of exciting new interactive technologies, courtesy of Microsoft.

These exhibitions make the Library of Congress and its collections more dynamic and accessible than ever. Touch-screen kiosks with the power to magnify images of objects, translate text and point to other sources of information are found throughout the library’s exhibition spaces.

Visitors can flip through century-old books, magnify sections of interest and access commentary from the Library’s top experts, all from the same touch screen. This enables visitors to immerse themselves in the mind’s of America’s most revered thinkers.

Artifacts like the Waldseemüller map (the first map which includes the name “America”), the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, the Gutenberg Bible and original volumes from Thomas Jefferson’s Library are virtually at your fingertips.

This is the modern way of “going to the library!”