Is NARA a public library?

Dear Mr. Sotnikov,

Thank you for posting your request on the History Hub!

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the depository of the permanently valuable non-current records of the Federal Government.  NARA’s mission is to preserve the records and make them available to the public. As part of NARA’s reference service, the staff provide information about the records, make copies of the records for a fee, and make records available for use in NARA’s research rooms. Although NARA has a library at the National Archives in College Park, that is not NARA’s main function. And NARA’s Presidential Libraries are actually archives. The term “Presidential Libraries” was a phrase used by FDR and the name has stuck.

If you are seeking a Federal Library, please contact the Library of Congress via their website at https://www.loc.gov/ or through their new crowdsourcing section at crowd.loc.gov.

We hope this information is helpful.