It might have been a good attraction once upon a time, but larcenous dudes were ripping pages out of rare books. So they restricted about 98% of the access to books and make you have to fill out paperwork to get any title. It takes an hour to get an access card. By the time you research a title, give it to the clerk and wait for it, that takes as much as 2 hours (and the title I wanted wasn't even available). You'll have an easier time getting a book out of your local library than this beauracratical soup sandwich.

It takes about 30 minutes to an hour to get a pass, but once you do you can ask the attendants to get any book in the library (that can take about another 30-40 minutes) If you need to do research involving rare books, it's a can't miss. Plus it's free. Go when you have a few hours to kill and enjoy our intellectual capital of the nation. I love the place.

Very restricted inside. Little to see and cameras with flash aren't allowed. Still a must see in DC though

It has the most useful collection for almost any kind of research.

The Library of Comgress is probably the most impressive building I have ever seen in the States. It is comparable to Europe/.