Requests are accepted from recognized libraries that are listed in standard directories or are affiliated with networks and that make their own materials available on interlibrary loan. Certain rare, brittle, and other materials are not available for loan. The services of the African and Middle Eastern Division are offered to the Congress, government agencies, other libraries, and the public. In-person readers must obtain a Reader Registration Card to use the collections. There is limited borrowing for the public using interlibrary loan through the individual's public library.
Restrictions exist taking depending on the condition, rarity, size, and frequency of use of an item.
Hebraic items have been entered into RLIN since 1988. RLIN provides the only online vernacular access to items in Hebrew and Yiddish. One can use Eureka, an RLIN-based service, but it will only provide romanized records. The Hebraic Section will do OCLC or RLIN searches for readers on a very limited basis. The Hebraic Section of the Library of Congress was established in 1914 as part of the Division of Semitica and Oriental Literature.