The Library of Congress is challenging hip-hop fans and music lovers to remix sounds from its extensive archive. A new digital tool called Citizen DJ, created by one of the library’s Innovators in Residence, Brian Foo, will allow users to explore the library’s recordings to create and download original beats and sounds.

Foo, a data-visualization artist, early hip-hop fan and former break dancer, said in a phone interview that the inspiration for the project draws on the genre’s roots, when D.J.s scoured record-store crates for obscure sounds to sample in their music.

Foo wondered, with modern copyright challenges: “What is that collective crate that we all own as American citizens? What are these sounds that can be used in an unrestricted creative way?”