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Collections of the California State Library

Access to the collections of the California State Library is available from five public reading rooms:

The Main Catalog provides listings and descriptions of most of the holdings in the above collections, including books, periodicals, microfilm, microfiche, maps, and many other formats of materials.

The Picture Catalog indexes selected images in the Library's rich collections of historic photographs, prints, drawings, and sheet music.

The Braille and Talking Book Catalog indexes the materials available to eligible users of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Information Resources and Government Publications

(Location and hours)

The Information Resources and Government Publications section manages the State Library's general resources and government publications resources including State Workforce and Training Materials and World Languages collections.

The general collection contains books, journals, videos and other materials primarily in subject areas of interest to State government such as business, education, environment, public policy, social sciences and technology, as well as almanacs, dictionaries, directories, indexes and encyclopedias.

The government publications collection is the only regional depository of federal government information in California. The State Library receives all publications distributed by the United States Superintendent of Documents to depository libraries and is also a full depository of California state government publications. Use the Main Catalog to explore these collections.

Some older materials and some special-format collections held in the government publications collection are not included in the Library's Main Catalog:

  • United States Congressional documents issued prior to 1970 are not listed in the Main Catalog.
  • United States Executive documents issued prior to 1976 are not listed in the Main Catalog.
  • City, county, and special district documents received prior to 1981 are not listed in the Main Catalog.
  • Documents from other states received prior to 1981 are not listed in the Main Catalog.
  • United States patent and trademark information in paper, CD-ROM, DVD, and microform formats, including full patent specifications, including images, on microfilm from 1901 to the present and on DVD from 1790 to the present are not listed in the Main Catalog.
  • Reports on microfiche in the PB and AD series from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) are not listed in the Main Catalog.
  • ERIC reports on educational research, in microfiche are not listed in the Main Catalog

Contact us for information about library services and to borrow materials from our collections. Our staff can provide assistance with searching the Main Catalog and answering reference questions.

Witkin State Law Library of California

(Location and hours)

The Bernard E. Witkin State Law Library collection contains selected primary and secondary sources in American law. The hard copy collection includes current appellate court opinions, California and federal annotated codes and agency decisions, as well as annotated codes for ten other states. All states’ annotated codes, attorney general opinions and session laws are held in paper or microform until at least 2002. These primary sources are supplemented by California and federal digests and citators, law journals and periodicals, and current California practice materials. The Law Library is particularly strong in both California and older national primary and practice materials. Use the Main Catalog to explore these collections.

Special collections include Congressional bills, 1933- ; California bills (including those never passed) 1867- ; and Northern California land claims (records and briefs relating to Mexican and Spanish land cases). The Witkin State Law Library can also provide access to California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal briefs starting in 1863. Online access is provided to current briefs without charge.

Staff is available to assist users in their research.

The Witkin State Law Library is named, by statute (Education Code §19328) for Bernard E. Witkin (1904-1995), the preeminent commentator on and teacher of California law.

California History Room

(Location and hours)

The California History Room collection covers all aspects of life in the State from prehistoric times to the present. In addition to the books and periodicals listed in the Main Catalog, there are many other materials available such as Newspapers, Maps, and Ephemera. Items such as photographs, prints, vertical file materials, telephone books, some maps, city directories, and special indexes are not listed in the Main Catalog. However, the California State Library Picture Catalog lists some of the Library's graphic materials, including some photographs and prints. Manuscript collections of the California State Library are described in the Online Archive of California.

Staff are available in the History Room to provide assistance in using the online catalogs and the many special materials and files. Staff also provides access to the Rare book collection.
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Sutro Library

(Location and hours)

Sutro Library will offer a free series of evening programs on the life and times of Adolph Sutro on the last Thursday of each month from January through April 2010. Guest speakers from the Presidio Archaeology Lab will cover the following topics. For details, visit Sutro Library Program Series (PDF) (Word).

  • January 28: Sutro's life before America
  • February 25: The journey to San Francisco
  • March 25: Building the Sutro Tunnel in Nevada; rare book collecting
  • April 29: Post-tunnel years in San Francisco.

The Sutro Library in San Francisco offers customers:

  • The most extensive genealogy collection west of Salt Lake City.
  • A comprehensive United States local history collection.
  • Adolph Sutro's rare book and manuscript collections.
  • Genealogical, family and local history catalogs.
  • Special indexes, guides, and bibliographies.

Sutro Library materials can be accessed through the California State Library Main Catalog, and Sutro staff is available to assist in-house customers with the resources. Sutro items may be borrowed by requesting an interlibrary loan through your local public library.

Group visits may be arranged by contacting the Sutro Library.

Genealogy Links

Braille and Talking Book Library

(Location and hours)

The Braille and Talking Book Library loans cassette, record and braille books produced by the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped to eligible residents in Northern California.

Only print titles in the reference collection of the Braille & Talking Book Library are listed in the State Library's Main Catalog. For braille, casette, and record titles, please use the Braille and Talking Book Catalog
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