Conveyor Belts Broken at Library of Congress

According to a submission to the D.C. community email discussion list themail, the Library of Congress' conveyor belt system has been broken since Friday, Feb. 25 - over a full week. The elaborate underground system ferries books between the Library of Congress buildings and with the belts broken researchers must wait longer than usual to retrieve their books. (Even when the system is working a request for a book can take up to an hour during peak periods.) Contributor Bryce Suderow reports in today's newsletter that "A technician pushing a book cart told me that the system breaks down about every other month, but it has never been down this long before. He thinks it will be another week before they fix the problem." He goes on to report that the system's "manufacturer went out of business fifteen years ago, so the LOC has to order parts that don't quite fit from other companies."

The illustration to the left of the conveyor belt system was printed in Harper's Weekly in 1897. We assume things have been updated slightly since then.