Special materials and selection criteria

Special materials in the Louisiana collection include:

• Acts of the Louisiana Legislature, 1810 to current;
• Current and historical city directories and telephone books for Louisiana cities and towns;
• Current and historical Louisiana maps;
• Current and historical Louisiana state government publications;
• Documents relating to the Historic American Building Survey in Louisiana;
• Documents relating to the Louisiana Historic Standing Structures Survey;
• Documents relating to the Louisiana Works Progress Administration;
• Louisiana-related federal government documents;
• Louisiana-related popular and specialized magazines, including all that are indexed in Bayou State Periodical Index;
• Newspapers from major Louisiana cities in print, on microfilm and in electronic format;
• U.S. Census, ship passenger lists, military service and parish records on microfilm;
• Vertical files of newspaper articles and ephemeral materials.

Criteria for selection include:

• Subjects relevant to Louisiana;
• Works written or illustrated by a native or resident who is closely identified with Louisiana;
• Fiction of literary quality with a Louisiana setting and popular fiction by Louisiana authors;
• Popular books and compilations of Louisiana law and jurisprudence;
• Genealogy materials related to Louisiana and southeastern U.S. and journals published by state genealogical and historical societies;
• Juvenile books by Louisiana authors or with a Louisiana setting;
• Dissertations dealing with Louisiana history, culture or biography;
• Study guides for state-specific licensing examinations; and
• Standard annual series of Louisiana travel guidebooks.