State Library Services

The State Library Services Division provides access to information to meet the needs of its customers and provides statewide leadership in sharing information through library networking. As required in KRS 171.140, it provides library services through the State Library for its clientele: state government personnel, public libraries, other institutions, and individuals. In an effort to equalize library service and access to information across the state, this Division promotes and maintains cooperative arrangements for information and resources sharing among all types of libraries and information centers including state agencies as mandated by KRS 171.200.

The Technical Support Branch of the State Library Services Division, which maintains a highly trained, skilled, and knowledgeable professional and paraprofessional staff, creates computer access to the State Library's collections through the online KDLA Catalog. Also, through OCLC, Online Computer Library Network (the international bibliographic utility), the staff contributes holdings information on titles belonging to the KDLA collections and that are available for resource-sharing purposes. In addition, the Technical Support Branch provides consultative support to Kentucky's public libraries on cataloging and processing issues, and submits a column of cataloging tips for publication in the Public Library Newsletter.

The library’s multimedia staff prepared a mediaography of videos in the State Library’s collection on the Summer Reading Program theme “A World of Readers.” Selected titles on the mediaography were available for preview at the summer reading workshops held in Frankfort on March 2-4, 2004. The mediaography was distributed statewide to children’s librarians to assist them with Summer Reading programming.

The State Library continues to work with its state government agency partners to meet the information needs of state government employees. These partners are the Office of Government Training, Kentucky Employees Assistance Program, the Kentucky Employee Mediation Program, the Transportation’s Division of Employee Recruitment and Development, and the Commonwealth Office of Technology. A new cooperative program was initiated with the State Safety Coordinator’s office. The library’s reference staff will create bibliographies to provide information on safety training resources in the library’s collection. All bibliographies will be available 24/7 through the KDLA website.

As part of the April 2004 National Library Week celebration, State Library staff visited state agency locations, including the Commonwealth Office of Technology at Cold Harbor, the Department of Military Affairs, and the Division of Corrections Training (Louisville). Information tables were also staffed in the CHR Building and the Capital Plaza Tower. As part of September 2004 National Library Card Sign-up Month, State Library staff visited Transportation Districts #3 (Bowling Green), #5 (Louisville) #7 (Lexington) and #10 (Jackson), the Office of Workers’ Claims, the Auditor of Public Accounts office, the Kentucky Board of Nursing (Louisville), and the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System office. During each visit, information was offered on the State Library’s collections and services, and opportunities for library card sign-up were available. These visits and other promotional activities resulted in almost 700 new state government employee patrons.

The State Library staff began a long term project to evaluate its book and media collections for individual items that have become worn or out of date or are no longer appropriate to its patrons’ interests. This analysis and evaluation of the collection as a whole emphasizes the State Library’s mission to provide high quality information materials that will meet the information needs of state government employees and public library staffs.

Image: A member of the State Library's Technical Services Branch reviews DVDs intended for the collection.

The State Library’s management team recently reviewed the changes in its services and processes, as well as its access and delivery options. Some of these changes occurred because of staff changes and shortages, shifts in priorities and services and the Library’s overriding desire to meet the needs of and provide services to our customers as best as possible. One response to meet this challenge is the creations of an Acquisitions Unit as part of the Collection Services Branch (formerly called Technical Services). The unit’s manager will supervise all acquisition and purchasing activities. Administrative support staff will provide assistance with vendor relations, create acquisition records for the KDLA Catalog, and conduct activities related to purchasing and receiving library materials. Part of this reorganization includes consolidating the circulation functions for all library materials into one central service location.

Special efforts have been made by the State Library staff to maintain contact with public library staff, especially in providing information on how to reach the reference staff for research consultation. An email “Reference Question of the Month” was begun to share interesting questions received through the “Ask a Librarian” consultation service as well as an opportunity to recommend information resources and provide helpful research tips. Also, presentations and exhibits were held at the Kentucky Public Library Association conference in May 2004 and at the Widening Circles conference held in September, 2004. Public library staff members, on an individual basis, throughout the state have continued to ask the Technical Services Branch staff for assistance in creating and maintaining access to information.

The State Library provides Kentucky state government employees with access to a variety of research databases at their desktops. Databases include full-text newspaper articles, magazine and journal articles, electronic reference books, statistics and data. Originally, state government employees had to supply a login and password in order to use each individual database. Now, remote access to KDLA’s research databases has been simplified by an authentication process initiated by the State Library’s reference staff. The state government employee only needs to enter his/her name and library card number to access the databases. Currently, database vendor licensing aggreements only allow state government employees with a KDLA library card may have remote access to the State Library’s research databases.

The State Library coordinated professional technology training for library employees and administrators. Workshop topics in September-October 2003 included Introduction to Resource Sharing, The Successful Searcher in OCLC ILL Web; ILL: The Basics, and ILL: Beyond the Basics.

The Kentucky Virtual Library (KVYL) received assistance from KDLA in the form of staff expertise and financial support. State Library staff served on various KYVL committees examining issues related to technology, collections, document delivery, and resource sharing.