Set on a beautiful 45 acre campus with stunning architectural design and landscaping, the Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center is a state-of-the-art facility where the Library of Congress acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts, and sound recordings. The Campus has globally unprecedented capabilities and capacities for the preservation reformatting of all audiovisual media formats (including obsolete formats dating back at least 100 years) and their long-term safekeeping. In addition to preserving the collections of the Library, the Packard Campus was also designed to provide similar preservation services for other archives and libraries in both the public and private sector. The physical description of the Campus is impressive enough—415,000 square feet, more than 90 miles of shelving for collections storage, 35 climate controlled vaults for sound recording, safety film, and videotape, 124 individual vaults for more flammable nitrate film—but it is also a "factory" for acquisitions, preservation, access, and partnerships.
Although the facility is not open to the general public for tours, visitors can enjoy movies on Mount Pony when the Packard Campus hosts a regular series of film and television programming in its 204 seat theater. There are usually three shows a week: Fridays at 7:30 pm, a Saturday matinee at 2:00 pm and a Saturday evening show at 7:30. The state-of-the-art projection booth is capable of showing everything from nitrate film to modern digital cinema. Mt. Pony audiences are treated to a dazzling array of cinematic delights in a gorgeous Art Deco-style theater with superlative sound, state-of-the-art film projection, and comfortable seating. All programs at the Campus are free and open to the public, but children twelve and under must be accompanied by an adult. Reservations are strongly encouraged.
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