• About the Reading Room
• The Collections
  • Chinese
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • South & Southeast Asia
  • Mongolian
  • Tibetan
  
  
• Search Our Catalogs
• LC Calendar of Events
  

Using the Reading Room:

• Library of Congress Security
• Research Orientation to LC
• About the Visitor's Center
• Copies (Photoduplication)
• Interlibrary Loan
  
• Policy: Access to Rare Materials

Hours:
Weekdays, 8:30am to 4:30pm
Closed Weekends & Federal Holidays

Digital Projects:

• Chinese Bibliography
• Korean Bibliography
• Philippine Bibliography
• Portals to the World
  • Asian Portals
• Naxi Manuscript Collection

Databases:

• LC Subscription Databases
• Chinese e-resources
• Korean Serial Database

• A World of Books
• Indonesian Bibliography
• Romanization Tables

Ask a Librarian
Want to send the reference staff a question about the Library's Asian Collections.

The Asian Reading Room is the primary public access point for researchers seeking to use the Asian collections of the Library of Congress in the many languages of Asia. The reading room covers the area from the South Asian subcontinent and Southeast Asia to China, Japan, and Korea. With almost 2 million books, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, and electronic media, the collections are the most comprehensive sources of Asian language materials outside of Asia. Area Specialists and Reference Librarians provide in-depth reference assistance on questions concerning Asia. Western language materials about Asia are part of the general collection but can be requested in either the Asian Reading Room or the Main Reading Room.