California State Library
Encyclopedia
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
. Today, it is the central reference and research library
Research library
A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects . A research library will generally include primary sources as well as secondary sources...
for state government and the Legislature. The California State Library advises, consults with and provides technical assistance to California's public libraries
Public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
. It directs state and federal funds to support local public libraries and statewide library programs. The mission of the California State Library is to serve as California's public research library, helping the people of California, their governments and their libraries with their information and knowledge needs. With the exception of the Sutro
Adolph Sutro
Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro was the 24th mayor of San Francisco, and second Jewish mayor, serving in that office from 1894 until 1896...
Library in San Francisco, all branches are located in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, at 900 N Street and at the State Capitol.
The Stanley Mosk Library & Courts Building is closed for renovation until Spring of 2013. During the renovation, all collections and staff offices formerly housed in that building have been relocated, either to California State Library at 900 N Street, Sacramento, or to a warehouse facility in West Sacramento.
Services to the public
The California State Library makes a wide range of services available to Californians. The library provides reference services to visitors of the library, as well as those contacting the California State Library via phone, faxFax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
, letter, email or TDD
TDD
- Technology :* Technical design document, a low-level type of design document* Telecommunications device for the deaf, a device for text communication along a telephone line* Test-driven development, a type of software development methodology...
. Visitors are welcome to use the California State Library collections on site. The California State Library's circulating materials are loaned to the public through local libraries. Other services include Braille
Braille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
and recorded books, use of computers with internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
access, online access
OPAC
An Online Public Access Catalog is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries...
to the library catalogs, and California state information.
Information services for both the Witkin State Law Library and the Information Resources and Government Publications (IRGP) sections are now available at the Braille and Talking Book Library, 900 N Street, Room 100. IRGP and Law Library service hours and reference phone numbers have not changed.
The library uses the OCLC
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
Symbols CAX and SUTRO.
Library sections
There are seven sections of the California State Library: the Bernard E. Witkin State Law Library, Braille and Talking Book Library, the California History Room, the California Research Bureau, the Information Resources and Government Publications, the Library Development Services Bureau, and the Sutro Library.Bernard E. Witkin State Law Library
The Law Library collection contains standard primary and secondary legal resources in American lawLaw of the United States
The law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
. Materials in the collection include federal and state appellate court
Appellate court
An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...
decisions, session laws, codes/statutes, federal agency decisions, and Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
opinions of the U.S. and the fifty jurisdictions. These primary sources are supplemented by federal digests, the Pacific Digest, federal and regional citators, legal encyclopedias, law journals and periodicals, and current practice materials.
Braille and Talking Book Library
This service is affiliated with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically HandicappedNational Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped is a free library program of braille and audio materials circulated to eligible borrowers in the United States by postage-free mail. The program is a service sponsored by the Library of Congress. People may be eligible for the...
of the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. It loans recorded and Braille books and magazines to Northern Californians who cannot read standard print due to visual or physical limitations. Special players to listen to the books are also loaned. The reading room houses assistive devices such as print magnifiers and scanners with voice output. The borrowing of materials in this collection is limited to eligible customers specially registered for the service.
California History Room
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
letters, and information on California genealogy. One special collection available here that is not limited to California is the American Haiku Archives, which includes books, papers, letters, and other material relating to haiku poetry by poets from around North America. This archive is the world's largest public collection of haiku and related materials outside Japan.
California Research Bureau
The California Research Bureau prepares in-depth research reports on policy questions of interest to state officials. The reports are strictly non-partisan and examine a broad spectrum of research and policy options, and do not advocate a particular viewpoint. Each report includes essential background information, key data developed by CRB and other researchers, and a summary of the policy debate.Information Resources and Government Publications
The Information Resources and Government Publications staff manages the State Library’s general, circulating and reference collections. Materials in the collection are primarily in subject areas of interest to State government such as business, education, environment, industry standards, personnel training and development, management, public policy, social sciences and technology.The Information Resources and Government Publications staff manages the State Library’s general, circulating and reference collections. Materials in the collection are primarily in subject areas of interest to State government such as business, education, environment, industry standards, personnel training and development, management, public policy, social sciences and technology.
The Information Resources and Government Publications section also includes a full federal depository library
Federal depository library
The Federal Depository Library Program is a United States program created to make U.S. federal government publications available to the public at no cost. As of June 2008, there are 1,252 depository libraries in the United States and its territories. A "government publication" is defined in the U.S...
and the state’s largest collection of California state government publications. The section serves as the sole regional depository for, and largest collection of, federal documents in California. It receives all publications distributed by the U.S. Superintendent of Documents to federal depository libraries, along with purchasing supplementary microfiche collections relating to federal reports, studies and documents. The Information Resources and Government Publications section is also responsible for managing the California State Depository Library Program
California State Depository Library Program
The California State Depository Library Program is a program administered by the California State Library. The program was authorized by the California Legislature in the 1945 Library Distribution Act with the goal of making California documents easily available to all California residents.-...
.
Library Development Services Bureau
The Library Development Services Bureau provides state and federal financial assistance to California libraries and provides technical consulting assistance to help local libraries extend and improve services to all Californians.The primary assistance programs of the Library Development Services Bureau include: Library Services and Technology Act
Library Services and Technology Act
The Library Services and Technology Act was signed on October 1, 1996 by United States President Bill Clinton. LSTA is a United States federal library grant program. Its roots come from the Library Services Act that was first enacted in 1956. LSTA replaced the Library Services and Construction Act...
(LSTA), a federal program which provides grants to libraries for innovative library services, technological development, services for underserved populations, library networking and resource sharing; Public Library Fund, a funding program under which the state contributes funding for basic local library services under specified conditions; California Library Literacy Services, which works to enable Californians of all ages to reach their literacy goals and use library services effectively; and California Library Services Act (CLSA), a program that helps public libraries and cooperative public library systems provide coordinated information services, supports communication and delivery among libraries, and provides reimbursement for interlibrary loans of materials and direct loans to non-resident borrowers.
Sutro Library
Sutro Library, located in San Francisco, has a collection genealogicalGenealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
resources, such as state and local histories, and family histories.
Apart from genealogical records for California, Sutro has records for all other states, including the U.S. Census from 1790 to 1920 (on microfilm) and materials helpful in tracing genealogy in foreign countries.
The collection was built upon the donation of Adolph Sutro
Adolph Sutro
Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro was the 24th mayor of San Francisco, and second Jewish mayor, serving in that office from 1894 until 1896...
, and contains many rare books. Sutro further emphasizes British studies of science, voyages and travels prior to 1900, Mexican history, and Hebraica.
External links
- California State Library homepage
- California State Library catalogs
- California State information from the State Library (state flowerFlowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
, mottoMottoA motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
, etc). - California Research Bureau public policy reports
- Directions to the California State Library
- Hours, contact information, and locations of the State Library branches
- Past State Librarians
- Publications
- Official blog