The Reference Department's Vertical Files at the Main Library are in the process of being transferred to the Baton Rouge Room. If you have any questions about the status of the Vertical Files, please contact Special Collections (which includes the Baton Rouge Room) at (225) 231-3751.
The information below will remain online while this move is ongoing. Thank you very much for your patience.
The Vertical Files are divided into two sections: Baton Rouge and Louisiana. Librarians at the Reference Desk will be happy to show you how to use each section's subject headings to find what you need. The list of Baton Rouge and Louisiana subject headings are linked below.
The East Baton Rouge Library offers many "online databases" for our patrons' convenience. These databases are accessible on our website under the link titled The Digital Library.
As newspaper clippings comprise a sizable majority of our vertical files, we have, for your convenience, provided direct links to two of these databases—Newsbank and the Historical Newspaper Archives—where you can find many newspaper articles of interest.
(If you are accessing one of these databases from outside of the library, you will need your East Baton Rouge Parish Library card number.)
The Vertical Files are comprised of newspaper and magazine clippings about local topics of interest, arranged by subject. They are housed in folders in filing cabinets at various branches and help supplement our collection by providing material on subjects on which little has been written about in book form. The largest collection is at the Main Library on Goodwood Blvd. Selective articles in that collection span years from the 1920’s to the present.
Many of the articles are not available on the Internet. For instance, did you know that many official reports pertaining to the BP Oil Spill/Deepwater Horizon disaster published at that time are no longer available? Many Hurricane Katrina reports are also no longer available online and we have them here in the Vertical Files. You can find many of them in our Vertical Files. You may have an assignment to find information and sources on the Capital Building or Government in Louisiana. We have pamphlets and clippings on these subjects. Our files on Hurricane Katrina are extensive.
Our Vertical Files consist of two sections: topics concerning Baton Rouge and topics concerning the state of Louisiana. Both sections are grouped by subject heading and have been put in alphabetical order. Some topics are extensive enough to warrant more than one folder; in these cases, these folders are often put in chronological order, usually by decade.
Staff members recently cataloged the Vertical File Index for your convenience. To discover what files the Main Library owns, conduct a search in the online catalog. Type in “Vertical File” in the Keyword search box. Over 800 entries will result. You also have the option to narrow your search. For example, try adding the words “Louisiana plantations” or “Baton Rouge Libraries”. There’s a file for that! We invite you to visit us on the second floor of the Main Library so that we can show you our collection; we are happy to serve you however we can.
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