Where Do I Start?
How do I find specific research materials? |
How do I use the research materials?
What else is there to see here?
Welcome to LSU Libraries' Special Collections on the web! We have many
resources available to researchers both at this site and in our reading room in
Hill Memorial Library. We hope the following information will help you get
started using Special Collections at LSU.
Introduction
- Our Location and Hours
- If this is your first visit to
LSU Libraries' Special Collections, take a moment to view the Virtual Walking Tour. This site will familiarize
you with the physical layout of Hill Memorial Library and introduce you to
our resources and procedures.
- Next, explore our five major
collecting areas:
Back to Top of Page
How do I find specific research materials?
- First, search the LSU
Libraries' Online Public Access
Catalog. The OPAC
includes records for books, journals, manuscripts, microfilm, maps, and
other materials found in Special Collections. Records for nearly all the
books and other published materials in Special Collections can be found
there, including an extensive collection of Louisiana newspapers on
microfilm. (Click here for more information on the
Louisiana Newspaper Project.)
The OPAC also includes records for about one quarter of our manuscript
collections.
-
If you're looking specifically for manuscripts and other unpublished
materials, learn more about our holdings on the the
LLMVC page. We have more than 5,000 manuscript collections. The
document "Finding Manuscript Resources in
the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections," (available
in PDF) will orient you to our
manuscript inventories,
subject guides,
online catalog, and indexes available only in the library.
- If you're looking for the
official records of LSU, check the
University Archives inventories. LSU's archives adhere to a
Records Retention schedule. For manuscript collections about LSU (but
not the official records of the University) visit the
LSU Subject Guide.
- For oral history materials,
search the OPAC
and visit the T. Harry Williams Center for
Oral History web pages. You can listen to tapes and read transcripts in
the Special Collections reading room.
-
If you're studying the U.S. Civil War, you can explore the
Index of Civil
War Information available on the Internet (maintained by Dick Weeks).
For manuscript collections on this topic, use our Civil War Subject Guide.
Back to Top of Page
How do I use the research materials?
Like all special collections libraries, we have very specific rules about how
people can use our materials. We encourage researchers to use our materials, but
we need to preserve them for future scholars to use as well. For this reason, we
do not allow library patrons to take materials out of the building. Fortunately,
we have a beautiful reading room in Hill Memorial Library
where anyone can register to use our materials. We require that you present a
photo identification card (your driver's license or student i.d.) when you
register, so please be sure to bring one to the reading room.
To learn more about using Special Collections materials, visit the following
pages:
Finally, if you can't visit our reading room, you can ask a Reference Question online. Please remember that we can only
answer questions specifically about our collections. For more extensive
research, please make plans to visit us in Baton Rouge. We do not accept
requests for copies through our e-mail reference service, but you can request a
limited number of specifically identified copies by letter (see the Photoduplication Policy for details). Also, if you have an idea for how we
improve our services, please make a suggestion.
Back to Top of Page
What else is there to see here?
Hill Memorial Library has two exhibition galleries that are open to the public
free of charge, Monday through Friday 8 to 5 and most Saturdays 9 to 1.Check Current exhibit
| Coming Exhibits to see what's on. We also
feature online exhibits on topics ranging
from “Sugar at LSU” to “British Voices from South Asia.” In addition, you can
see images of Special Collections materials in the
LOUISiana Digital Library.
We hope you find our collections useful to your research. Thank you for
visiting and come again soon!
Back to Top of Page
Footer
