The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress helps congressional offices respond to their constituents, but is limited to in both the time and effort it can spend in answering these requests. Its first duty is to provide information to Congress and to help Congress meet its legislative responsibilities. To give as much help as possible to those wishing to find more on their subjects, we offer these ideas on using local libraries. How to Find Information in a Local Library Libraries today serve as clearinghouses for practical information as much as collections of learning, research, and bestsellers. Librarians can help one learn how a certain holiday began, which government agency to contact to lodge a consumer complaint, which toaster to buy, and much more.
Most areas have a city or county public library to help with reference and research.
College and university libraries often provide some public access to their collections. Even a small library has resources that, if used creatively, can often answer a question or at least suggest a source where information can be found. Every library has a reference collection of books for use in the library, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, magazine indexes, compilations of statistics, biographical directories, and so on. They can provide a great deal of information quickly. Many libraries have online searching, usually for a fee, and CD-ROMs for readers to use themselves.