Highlights of the collection

The State Library’s comprehensive collection of Louisiana materials includes items about Louisiana and books by Louisiana authors.

• Genealogy
  • Census records for the southeastern U. S., ship passenger lists for the Port of New Orleans, military service and parish records on microfilm
  • Current and historical city directories and telephone books for Louisiana cities and towns
  • Journals published by state genealogical and historical societies
  • Louisiana and southeastern U.S. genealogy and family histories
• Louisiana political, social and cultural history
  • Acts of the Louisiana Legislature, 1810 to current
  • Current and historical Louisiana maps
  • Current and historical Louisiana state government publications 
  • Current and historical newspapers from major Louisiana cities
  • Current information in the areas of law and travel
  • Documents relating to the Historic American Building Survey in Louisiana, the Louisiana Historic Standing Structures Survey, and the Louisiana Works Progress Administration
  • Materials dealing with Louisiana history, culture and biography
  • Photographs of Louisiana-related subjects and events
  • Vertical files of newspaper articles and ephemeral materials
• Louisiana fiction and Louisiana authors
  • Fiction of literary quality with a Louisiana setting
  • Juvenile books by Louisiana authors or with a Louisiana setting
  • Popular fiction by Louisiana authors

Finding Louisiana materials

The materials in the Louisiana collection are located on the fifth floor of the library. The majority of the material is listed in the library’s online catalog. If a title is housed in the Louisiana collection, the call number is preceded by La (for example: La 917.3).  For help using the online catalog, click on the button on the upper right corner of each page in the catalog.

Fiction

To browse the Louisiana fiction collection, go to the online catalog and select Call number browse from the dropdown box on the Basic Search screen. Type in LA 813 in the field on the right and click GO to produce an alphabetical shelf list of Louisiana fiction. 

To browse the most recent Louisiana fiction titles:

• At the Search menu, choose Power Search.
• From the Search by option field, select Subject keyword and enter the word fiction.
• From the Limits option field, select Coll: LA Book.
• From the Sorting options, select Publication date.
• Return to the top of the Power Search page and click GO.
• Or to limit your browsing to recent fiction set in New Orleans, for instance, repeat the Power Search process outlined above, adding Orleans to the fiction in the Subject keyword box.

Searching For Your Louisiana Ancestors on Microfilm is a guide for finding genealogical materials in the Louisiana collection.

To find genealogical materials for a Louisiana parish in the online catalog:

• Select Subject from the dropdown box on the Basic Search screen.
• Type in a parish name in the field on the right and click GO.
• Scroll down the list to select the subject headings that interest you.