The East Baton Rouge Parish Library (EBRPL) was established in 1939 with a collection of second-hand donated books. During its first three years, the library established eight additional library branches to service the Baton Rouge area. Today, EBRPL is comprised of a Main Library and 13 community or regional branch libraries, and several bookmobiles. With a staff of more than 540 employees, the Library is open a cumulative total of 958 hours weekly.

The mission of the Baton Rouge Room Collection is collect, manage, preserve, and provide access to, items that represent significant historical actions of local governments, businesses, residents and institutions of the City of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish. These items include but are not limited to photographs, manuscripts, documents, periodical publications, audiotapes and memorabilia.

EBRPL is the recipient of numerous national and state awards including the Modisette Award for Excellence from the Louisiana Library Association and the President’s Coming Up Taller Award. Recently, the Library received a Starred Ranking from Library Journal for the fifth consecutive year.