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Home Research at the California State Library

Research at the California State Library

Main Catalog (find books, legal materials, documents, maps, videos, periodical holdings, and more)

Picture Catalog (explore selected images from our collections)

Online Resources (find articles in newspapers and magazines, find statstics, e-books and other web resources)

Links by Topic

Links by Collection

Links by Topic

In addition to the California State Library’s Online Catalogs, the Library has many other tools to assist researchers. Please contact one of our public service desks for more details.

Government and Public Policy:

History and Genealogy:

Literature and Non-English Language Materials:

Tools on the Internet:

Links by Collection

The California State Library's Online Catalogs can be used to explore the Library's collections.  The following links provide introductions to the services and collections available at the public service desks.

Background Details

American Haiku Archive (List by topic) (Complete List of Titles)

The American Haiku Archives collections are located in the California History Room. The materials have been donated by members of the American haiku community with the intent of making the haiku experience available to all interested parties. Materials include books, chapbooks, periodicals, graphic materials such as posters, cards, calendars, etc., and manuscript materials including the personal/professional papers of prominent haiku poets.

Employee Training and Development (List of Books) (List of Videos)

In the spirit of cooperation and partnership, the California State Library supports the information needs of the State training community in its efforts to educate and develop the State workforce. The Library is committed to providing trainers and other workforce leaders with access to an extensive collection, highly skilled staff, positive customer service, and 21st century technology. The titles compiled here will be useful to training officers in any state department. They cover topics such as leadership, coaching, customer service, motivation, distance learning, succession planning, recruitment and retention, ethics, workplace safety and other subjects as they arise. You can view a list of all of our training and deveopment materials or you can view a list limited to videos.

First 5 California Children and Families Commission (List of Titles in This collection)

First 5 California Children and Families Commission (CCFC) is charged with providing a comprehensive, integrated system of early childhood development services to all children in California ages 0 to 5. Current research in brain development indicates that the emotional, physical and intellectual environment that a child is exposed to in the early years of life has a profound impact on the brain. Local county commissions will integrate health care, quality child care, parent education and intervention services for families to foster secure, healthy and loving attachments. These lay the foundation for every child to enter school ready to learn and develop the potential to become productive, well-adjusted members of society. As a result of an interagency contract entered into by the California State Library and First 5 California, the enhanced services and materials in this special collection have been chosen cooperatively by First 5 California and California State Library staff to support efforts in these areas.

Historic Images (Browse Images By Collection)

The State Library has a rich collection of historic images, including photographs, prints, daguerreotypes, posters, sheet music covers, postcards, ephemera, and other illustrations. Catalog records for selected individual images (about 10% of the library's historic image collection) can be searched in our Picture Catalog. Some of these records include a link to a digital version of the image. You may also browse the online images by collection. Images not cataloged in the Picture Catalog may be searched in a special card file located in the California History Room at the State Library. Photocopies or photographic reproductions of these images may be ordered, and many of them are available for use with proper permission.

James Collection (List of Titles)

The James Collection consists of books and pamphlets written by the flamboyant California booster author George Wharton James (1858-1923). One of California's most prolific writers, he promoted the beauties of California's natural and man-made wonders through such works as California Scenic and Beautiful, Through Ramona's Country, and The Lake of the Sky, Lake Tahoe. Donated to the Library by Dr. Roger K. Larson of Fresno, the collection features rare first and variant editions, presentation bindings, and signed copies with tipped-in letters and photographs.

Manuscript Finding Aid (List of Titles)

The California History Section of the California State Library has been acquiring, organizing and providing access to manuscript collections since the section was established in 1903. A manuscript collection includes unpublished materials collected by or associated with an individual or organization. Such materials may include singular items -- such as letters, diaries, scrapbooks, ledgers, or manuscripts of published works -- or groups of items such as correspondence, corporate records, legal papers and such. Manuscript collection material may be in a wide variety of formats including handwritten or printed documents; graphic presentations such as photographs, maps, or drawings; or audio-visual presentations such as sound recordings and films. There are currently about 750 collections available for researchers. Individual records may be searched for and viewed within the California State Library catalog and records for these collections as a group may be found at the Online Archive of California.

Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA) Western Overland Trails Collection (List of Titles)

The Western Overland Trails Collection is housed in the California History Room of the Library. The growing collection started in 2002 and consists of published and unpublished materials donated by members of OCTA to the Library including diaries, journals, letters, reminiscences, newspaper accounts, biographies, guidebooks, maps, secondary sources, and reference works relating the nineteenth century western overland migration. Materials may consist of original manuscripts, photocopies of manuscripts and typescripts from private collections and public institutions, books, periodicals, and microforms. Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Independence, Missouri, OCTA is a non-profit history organization dedicated to the identification, preservation, and interpretation of western overland trails and sites. OCTA publishes the Overland Journal quarterly (available in the Library), scholarly books, and encourages research on overland trails through its special collections at the National Frontier Trails Center in Independence and the California State Library in Sacramento.

World Languages Collection (List of Titles)

This collection of more than 25,000 titles in Arabic, Asian, European, Hispanic, Indic, Scandinavian, and Slavic languages contains fiction and non-fiction in both original works and translations from English. The California State Library collects and circulates these materials as a service to libraries serving residents who speak other languages.