![Library of Congress Reading Room](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20090103152335im_/http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/images/section_branding_clock.jpg)
American self-government was created by a small group of people who were thinkers as well as doers, engaged in the world of affairs and the world of ideas. The Library of Congress, at the beginning of its third century, has an unprecedented opportunity to help revive this traditional American interaction through the insight and benefaction of Mr. John W. Kluge.
In an age where power and influence depend increasingly on knowledge, citizens and their leaders must rely more on wits than weapons to sustain global progress. Leaders need to tap the wisdom of mature scholars whose judgment and objectivity will bring fresh perspectives to government.
The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress is an ideal place to foster this mutually enriching relationship between scholars and political leaders. The Kluge Center presents a new opportunity to attract to Washington the best available minds in the scholarly world, facilitate their access to the Library's remarkable collection of the world's knowledge, and engage them in conversation with the U.S. Congress and other public figures.
The John W. Kluge Center occupies inspirational and capacious study and meeting spaces within the Library's magnificently restored Thomas Jefferson Building. The Center seeks to bring a group of the world's best senior thinkers - the Kluge Scholars - into residence, to stimulate, energize, and distill wisdom from the rich resources of the Library and to interact naturally over a period of time with political Washington. There is great flexibility in the interaction between the scholars and Members of Congress within the Jefferson Building, where lawmakers find a haven for serious discourse only a short walk from the Capitol.
For reflections on being a Kluge Center Scholar, view the Resident Scholars page.