I also discovered during my tour that the State Library of Louisiana also administers the Homework Louisiana program and makes it available to all 340 public libraries in Louisiana. I used this program with my children many years ago. It is such an excellent resource. The library also has an incredible Louisiana Collection. This archival department is run by Ms. Charlene and her assistant Mr. Samuel and they have tremendous knowledge of our historical and digital archive collections.
A whole floor at the State Library of Louisiana focuses on the blind and physically disabled community. This section is called the Talking Books and Braille Library. The work here is so impressive! Nearly a thousand digitally recorded books housed in this area go out to patrons daily. Additionally, the library services on this floor include videos that speak on the benefits of receiving free audio, Braille, and large-print music scores, texts, and other instructional materials and recordings in the mail, or downloading them through the BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) app. So many of our Louisiana families benefit from these services.
Lastly, the State Library of Louisiana has one of the best Book Festivals in the world! This annual award-winning event draws nearly 30,000 people each year to downtown Baton Rouge in a single day. With this event, it’s all boots on the ground for the staff! In an upcoming blog issue, we will feature Rebecca Hamilton, State Librarian, writing about the Book Festival, which occurs on a Saturday in late October/early November each year. It’s definitely on my calendar for Saturday, October 30th this year! In the meantime, you can read the feature piece from Rebecca on the Summer Reading program below.
There is one other thing I wanted to share. An area on the lower floor of the State Library features a sound studio for a program that was called Louisiana Voices. At one time, local celebrities and other notable Louisianans would record Louisiana authored books and magazines for our citizens to check out through the Talking Books and Braille Library mentioned above. How amazing to have the recordings of people like Cokie Roberts, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, Governor Kathleen Blanco, other well-known local news and radio personalities, and so many others! This area is such a wonderful and historical collection of Louisiana voices. BUT…. the Louisiana Voices program was canceled in September of 2010 due to a lack of funding. The studio and all the equipment are still there. The program costs about $100,000 annually to operate. If you know anyone interested in helping the library bring back this historical and popular program, please let our State Librarian, Rebecca Hamilton, know. The Louisiana Library and Book Festival Foundation supports efforts like these and is happy to receive donations for library programs.
The amazing people working in the State Library of Louisiana do so much for our state with so little pay and resources. Rebecca has the most incredible stories of past disasters and how the library assisted in so many ways. If you haven’t had a chance to visit the State Library of Louisiana or your local parish library, you should take some time to do so. It will be well worth your time.
State Library of Louisiana
701 North 4th Street,
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Phone: (225) 342-4913
Fax: (225) 219-4804
So, sign up for your library card at your local parish library and see all that is waiting for you!
Thank you to all our Librarians and Library Staff. You are amazing people that give so much to our state. We are grateful for your dedication!
Love to you all,