The Library of Congress will hold its annual Congress.gov Public Forum on September 30th, 2025, from 1-3:30 PM ET. The hybrid forum will allow people to attend in person at the Library of Congress’s Jefferson building or online. Here is how to RSVP.
These annual forums are required by congressional appropriators and provide the public an opportunity to hear updates to Congress.gov over the previous year and also allow the public to provide “feedback about how we can better service your legislative information needs.” This can include suggestions for new information published on Congress.gov, improvements for current features, and changes in the way information is made available to the public.
In addition, appropriators have authorized the Library of Congress to discuss its views and recommendations made to Congress arising from the the 2024 forum.
Click on the year to find our summary of Library of Congress public forums from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020.
Here is the direction from Senate Appropriators in the FY 2025 Appropriations Committee report.
Library of Congress Semi-annual Public Forums.—The Committee is aware of the tremendous value the Library of Congress’s public forums are for Congress, stakeholders, and the public. The Committee also understands that users of the Library’s legislative information services have suggestions regarding ways in which those services could be improved or expanded, and the Committee would like to encourage the continuance of a more structured process for receiving and considering such suggestions, such as the public forums held in previous years. Such a process should also recognize some of the limits on the Library’s ability to implement improvements and expansions of these services, however. For example, much of the information presented on the Congress.gov website is not generated or controlled by the Library but rather comes from other sources—particularly various offices of the House of Representatives and the Senate and the Government Publishing Office—and expanding or changing the content of Congress.gov will often require those sources to do something new or different. Further, some improvements and expansions would require commitment of substantial time and resources by offices both within and outside the Library that already have a heavy IT workload.
To facilitate public input into the Library’s legislative information services and how they could be improved, the Committee directs the Library of Congress to hold these public forums semi-annually on an ongoing basis. The Library should invite a broad range of potentially interested parties to participate, such as academics, advocacy, journalists and public interest organizations, research institutions, libraries, and publishers of legislative information. The Library should also invite and encourage participation from representatives of Legislative Branch stakeholders such as the Clerk of the House, the Secretary of the Senate, the Senate and House Sergeants-at-Arms and the Government Publishing Office.
Following each meeting, the Library shall continue to prepare a report, to be submitted to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, to relevant authorizing committees and officers of the House and Senate, and to be made publicly available on the Library’s website. The report should summarize the comments and suggestions made, indicate which could be implemented by the Library itself and which would require action by other entities, roughly estimate the cost and effort needed (where possible), and provide the Library’s evaluation and recommendations for further action. The Library is authorized to discuss its recommendations with the public.
Similar language was included in the FY2026 Senate Appropriations Committee report. The Senate passed the underlying bill in July.
Library of Congress Annual Public Forum.—The Committee is aware of the tremendous value the Library of Congress’s public forums are for Congress, stakeholders, and the public. The Committee also understands that users of the Library’s legislative information services have suggestions regarding ways in which those services could be improved or expanded, and the Committee would like to encourage the continuance of a more structured process for receiving and considering such suggestions, such as the public forums held in previous years. Such a process should also recognize some of the limits on the Library’s ability to implement improvements and expansions of these services, however. For example, much of the information presented on the Congress.gov website is not generated or controlled by the Library but rather comes from other sources—particularly various offices of the House of Representatives and the Senate and the Government Publishing Office—and expanding or changing the content of Congress.gov will often require those sources to do something new or different. Further, some improvements and expansions would require commitment of substantial time and resources by offices both within and outside the Library that already have a heavy IT workload.
To facilitate public input into the Library’s legislative information services and how they could be improved, the Committee directs the Library of Congress to hold an annual public forum and to regularly present at the Congressional Data Task Force public meetings. The Library should invite a broad range of potentially interested parties to participate, such as academics, advocacy, journalists and public interest organizations, research institutions, libraries, and publishers of legislative information. The Library should also invite and encourage participation from representatives of Legislative Branch stakeholders such as the Clerk of the House, the Secretary of the Senate, the Senate and House Sergeants-at-Arms and the Government Publishing Office.
Following each annual forum, the Library shall continue to prepare a report, to be submitted to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, to relevant authorizing committees and officers of the House and Senate, and to be made publicly available on the Library’s website. The report should summarize the comments and suggestions made, indicate which could be implemented by the Library itself and which would require action by other entities, roughly estimate the cost and effort needed (where possible), and provide the Library’s evaluation and recommendations for further action. The Library is authorized to discuss its recommendations with the public.
