A Brief Timeline and Some Origin Stories

History and Services Overview

The early years of the State Library Commission were focused on developing services and resources to provide access to libraries for all Montanans—particularly those whose communities did not already have that access. As needs and technology have changed, the services supported by the Commission have also evolved. State and federal funding have supported services at varying levels throughout the history of the Commission and State Library.

The earliest services supported by the MSLEC/MSLC were traveling book collections. When Library Services Act funds arrived in the mid-1950s, bookmobiles helped deliver the collections and the professional librarians to remote communities. A highlight in the 1960s was the installation of telephone service in each county library. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, public library standards and librarian certification were on the agenda. Resource sharing—catalogs of materials and traveling collections—were a focus through the 1980s and into the 1990s when the Internet enabled connected library systems. By the end of the 1990s, internet access was available in all of Montana’s public libraries. Shared online library systems and digital collections grew in the early 2000s. Awareness of a need to provide digital access to natural, geographical, historical, and government information brought support from the Legislature to consolidate staff and systems at the State Library. The Natural Heritage Program, Geographic Information Systems, and Digital Library are integral services of the State Library.

Read more on the History of the Commission webpage or for a more historical view, in this digitized publication from 1964.