Arlington Library

 is a mostly-intact Public Library building in Fallout 3. It is now occupied by Raiders, boxed in and hunted by Brotherhood of Steel soldiers holding position in the front lobby.

Location
is easily found by following the Potomac river South past the Citadel, then turning West to follow the road just South of the Citadel. It is directly across from Alexandria Arms and about two miles West-Southwest of the Jefferson Memorial.

Another route to the library is to go far south from Megaton, as far as you can go, then head east, hugging the bottom border until you are almost to the library (past or East of the entrance to the Flooded Metro). You will meet a considerable amount of resistance including a turret, and numerous raiders, 2 of which have missile launchers, there, but if you want to get some good loot and XP for killing Raiders, you can pop into a major Raider camp which is easily recognizable from the route you are on. If you haven't "discovered" the Flooded Metro station, you can cross the paved road (North) to add that station to your map, then it's just a short walk down the paved road to the library.

Watch out for a Talon Merc well off to the right as you approach the library. A sniper round or two will take him out without risk, or you should be able to sneak along the paved road at this point to get into the library without conflict. If you proceed to explore the area he was in, make sure that you have a lot of health, as there a about 4 other talon company mercs, a turret in the area, and an occasional sentry bot, and they are more than ready for a fight! (This is sometimes not needed if the trade caravans get there before you, as the guards take them out straight away. Also, the Enclave might take them out for you too! Not all that bad are they?)

As well as this, Enclave Vertibird(s) may appear just outside of the library in the meshy-off-ed area. (There's usually three, all with tesla armour and plasma rifles. Not bad, unless the trade caravans have stopped outside)

Quests

 * Moira Brown will ask you to explore the library and download the card catalog and the library's full archives to disk as part of The Wasteland Survival Guide quest.
 * There is also one of five Sheet Music Book inside that can be returned to Agatha as part of the Agatha's Song quest. (any of the five Music Paper books can be returned to Agatha however it can only be done once thus rendering the other four music books useless, unless you sell them for 100 caps each)
 * Additionally, there is a special ink well inside that can be used to forge a duplicate Declaration of Independence as part of the Stealing Independence quest. If the special ink well and possibly the other supplies with it are taken after the Stealing Independence quest is completed it may result in not being able to load the Arlington Public Library Lobby (Xbox 360 version)
 * Yearning for Learning: If you do not insult Scribe Yearling she will offer to pay you 100 Bottle caps and 10 XP per Pre-War Book given to her.

Inside
When you enter the Library you will be forced to speak with Scribe Yearling, a Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel agent who is tasked with archiving all pre-war knowledge into the Brotherhood's central computers. She will give you access to the Library's computer terminal at the front desk, where you will be able to download the card catalog to complete a primary objective in the Wasteland Survival Guide quest. To complete the optional objective, you will have to explore further into the building until you find the Library's mainframe computer buried deep within a raider den.

A couple of Brotherhood of Steel soldiers from Scribe Yearling's detachment, found on the first floor near the back, at the entrance to the first room with raiders, will help you clear out the building. Once you approach them, they will begin a scripted advance through the building, into the other wings, and will eventually finish up in a 'final' room with two turrets, where, just before entering, they will be joined by a third Brotherhood soldier. This advance will clear almost all the raiders in library (with the player's help of course, otherwise they will almost assuredly die before they're even halfway through). Unfortunately, their path does not lead them into the room where the player needs to go to achieve the optional objective of the Wasteland Survival Guide quest. Once they have cleared the room with the two turrets, they stand down and begin walking back to Scribe Yearling's position, so if the player wants help, they will need to lure the remaining raiders out.


 * Note: An alternate, preferable strategy to begin the advance of the Brotherhood soldiers is to first go upstairs to the second floor, and enter the first raider room from there. The first benefit is that you will be on the same level as the raiders, thus negating their high-ground advantage (the partial cover they receive from anyone downstairs in the center of the room). The second benefit is that it should be easier to sneak attack the raiders, as their focus will be on the Brotherhood of Steel soldiers, leaving you on their flank. The third benefit is that, due to your position on their flank, you will not be downstairs in the center of the room where all the raider gunfire will be concentrated, thus avoiding stray bullets aimed at the soldiers.

Sunken River Boat
Near the Library is a partially sunken boat with some loot on board. Head east to the river round the southern side of the Arlington library. You will pass the Talon Company Outpost entrance to your right. Keep east passing the unmarked entrance to Arlington Sewer (which can be seen on your local map) and go to a small beach on the river.

Look into the river. North-east there is a large boat half submerged, there is nothing on this. Almost directly to the south-east you can just see the roof of a small boat, swim to this to find:


 * Hunting rifle (poor condition)
 * 2 Locked Ammo Boxes (Very Easy)
 * First Aid Box

Notable loot

 * 10 Pre-War Books:
 * 3x - On the catwalk overlooking the main library
 * 1x - Beside the Public Terminal in the Media Archives
 * 1x - In the Media Archives area, in the room with two turret guns, northeast corner. Also the Ink Container can be found here.
 * 3x - In the Children's Wing, third floor (access through Media Archives)
 * 1x - Children's Wing, in the school room with the children's desks, on one of the desks.
 * 1x - Children's Wing, in the break room, on a table next to the Eat'o'tronic 3000
 * 1x - Children's Wing, in the same room you'll find the Sheet Music Book in, on a desk.


 * Sheet Music Book - There are two rooms sticking out on West side of the local map of the children's section of the library. Past the Firehose Box. Go right. Past the Nuka Cola Machine. In the first room you see enter. In the right cubicle by a music stand on the floor. In the first cubicle on the left is a trapped terminal. A pre-war book is in the back left cubicle, though if you don't see it there, keep looking around.
 * Ink Container in the 'Restoration Supplies' box in the Media section. It is a quest item and therefore cannot be removed after picking it up, but it will still occupy 1lb until you get the corresponding (sub-quest) from Button Gwinnett. If these 'Restoration Supplies' are taken after the Stealing Independence quest is completed it may result in not being able to load the Arlington Public Library Lobby (Xbox 360 version)
 * 5 skill books:
 * Big Book of Science - Upstairs from the lobby to the right, through the hallway, on a desk in an office with two sofas. First door on the right.
 * Guns and Bullets - Take the door from the Media Archive to the Children's Wing. You'll also find 3 of the above mentioned Pre-War books here, along with a shotgun and some ammo.
 * Tumblers Today - In the room where you download the archives, on the desk flanked by two sets of microfiche readers.
 * Lying, Congressional Style - Children's Wing, in the break room, next to the coffee-makers.
 * Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor - Second floor of the media archive, in the room with the pool table, on the square table in the corner.


 * Nuka-Cola Quantum - 1 on a table in the SW corner of the room where you download the archives, - and as always, check the vending machines...
 * Holotags, Power Armors, Miniguns and other weapons looted from fallen Brotherhood of Steel soldiers.
 * 1 Stealth Boy on a table in area overlooking the lobby
 * There is a safe (Average, requires 50 Lockpick) in a doorless room which can only be entered by dropping through a hole in the floor in the Children's Wing on the top floor (which is only one room). The safe contains random items.  You then must drop though a hole in that room's floor to get out. (There may be a Stealth Boy in place of the Scotch on the 360 or PS3 version.)
 * In one of the bathrooms located down the hallway from which the 2 Brotherhood knights emerge during their sweep of the building, there is a very out of place Fresh Apple behind the trashcan. (killing these Brotherhood of Steel guys for their loot doesn't affect how the Scribe or her guards interact with you)
 * Just to the north of the main door there is a Pulowski Preservation Shelter that contains a Guns and Bullets.
 * Scoped .44 Magnum - Sometimes can be found in the regular cabinet in the back room of the children's wing.

Bugs

 * Unable to load (freezing) when moving between various library sections (especially after completing optional part of Moira's "Retrieve complete library archive" quest), eventually begins to crash even when attempting to enter the library lobby from the outside (Xbox 360 - 2008/01/21) (PC version - 2009/01/26)
 * If the 'Restoration Supplies' are taken after the Stealing Independence quest is completed it may result in not being able to load the Arlington Public Library Lobby (Xbox 360 version)
 * Fast Travel from Arlington Library to Rivet City and JM resulted in 360 freezing.
 * Sometimes, when entering the Library, Scribe Yearling will be frozen in place, and unable to interact with. Moving away from her, or bumping into her, or leaving and re-entering usually fixes this. In a rather funny occurrence, when the glitch cleared, the Scribe actually said, "Hmm... Must have been a glitch." [-It was probably not the Scribe that said this, but rather Star Paladin Cross accompanying the player.] (Xbox 360 version)
 * Upstairs where the raider event occurs - can get stuck walking on tilted book shelves. Can't fast travel so you need to reload. (PC version - 2009/02/22)(Xbox 360 Version as well, 2009/03/18)
 * The radroaches on the bottom floor near the store-room and refrigerator can sometimes get stuck in the rubble and cannot move. They will come up on V.A.T.S. and their health can be seen when near them, but they will not attack the player. (PS3 Version and Xbox 360 Version)
 * A couple of Enclave soldiers and (dead, most likely killed by the Enclave) Talon company soldiers always respawn near the entrance of the library. This is not necessarily a bad glitch since all the Enclave soldiers have Tesla Armor and Plasma Rifle to loot, if you got the balls and the guns.
 * The Game Freezes just in front of the library when fast travelling from the Museum of History(Xbox 360 Version)
 * The game will never load the interior of the Library, and will crash every time you attempt to enter. (Xbox 360 Version)

Trivia
Arlington Library resembles much of Arlington Public Library of Virginia.

Appearances
 only appears in Fallout 3.