STATEWIDE LIBRARY RESOURCES (SLR)

REFERENCE [406-444-5351] mslref@mt.gov provides reference and information services to all Montana state agencies and their consultants, state institutions, state and federal employees, all Montana librarians, and the general public. Montana public librarians may call 1-800-338-5087 for reference assistance.

CIRCULATION [406-444-3016] circulates materials to all state residents, either directly on-site or via public, school, special, and academic libraries. Items from our general non-fiction collection, A/V collection, and State and Federal document collection circulate for 28 days. Periodicals circulate for 2 days. We accept phone renewals. See our Circulation Policy for more details. The Circulation Clerk is Marjorie Smith, who can be reached at 406-444-3016 or in Montana 1-800-338-5087.

INTERLIBRARY LOAN [406-444-5377] serves Montana state agencies, their consultants and Montana state and federal employees by providing them with books, reports, thesis, government documents, videos, and photocopies of periodical and newspaper articles. We request these items primarily over WLN, a regional database, and OCLC, a nationwide database. We serve libraries throughout the state, nation, and world by sending them circulating items and some reference items from our collection upon their request. We do not charge for either of these services at this time. The Interlibrary Loan Technician is Barbara Pepper Rotness, who can be reached at 406-444-5352 or in Montana 1-800-338-5087.

CONSULTING SERVICES are available from the SLR staff for assistance with: automating services, hiring staff, dealing with issues related to censorship, children's services, collection management, budgeting, voluntary certification, library designs, friends and foundation groups, and board development and policies.

Collection Management: Collection Management Policies, considered and formally adopted by governing entities, are a prerequisite to maintaining a usefull materials collection. Accordingly, the Montana State Library Commission now requires that any entity applying to the Commission for any grants after July 1, 1986, shall have an approved written collection management policy in place and on file at the Montana State Library (MSL). To be eligible to submit a grant application, Montana libraries must have an approved Collection Management Policy on file at the Montana State Library. The new requirement states that the library's collection management policy must be reviewed and updated (with the current board chair/legal authority's and director/librarian's signatures) at least once every three years and resubmitted in its entirety to the Montana State Library. The Collection Management Consultant is Darlene Staffeldt, who can be reached at 406-444-5381 o r in Montana 1-800-338-5087 or by E-mail at: dstaffeldt@mt.gov.

Federal Grants currently under construction: The Federal Grants Consultant is Sue Jackson, who can be reached at 406-444-5350 or in Montana 1-800-338-5087 or by E-mail at: sujackson@mt.gov.

Institutions: [406-444-5350] Levels of service available in Montana's eleven state-run institutions vary; five institutions have libraries on site. SLR staff offers consulting services to some state institutions, and administers the contract program which provides library services to five of the state-run institutions. The Institutions Consultant is Sue Jackson, who can be reached at 406-444-5350 or in Montana 1-800-338-5087 or by E-mail at: sujackson@mt.gov

Statewide Technology: [406-444-5431] Responding to the need, SLR offers a new service, technology consulting. Three positions were created to assist libraries with their technology challenges as libraries enter the technological age of the "Information Superhighway". Statewide Internet Projects are just a few of the activities supported by this aspect of Statewide Library Resources. The Statewide Technology Consultants are:

Vacant, Statewide Technology Librarian, office located at Great Falls Public Library, 301 2nd Avenue, N. Great Falls MT 59401-2593 ...888-502-0012 or 406-761-7120 or cell phone 431-1081 ....

Suzanne Reymer, Statewide Technology Librarian, office located at Parmly Billings Library, 501 North Broadway, Billings MT 59101-1196 ...888-826-0837 or 406-255-0729 or cell phone 698-0503 ....sreymer@uswest.net

Bob Cooper, Statewide Technology Librarian, office located at Montana State Library, 1515 E. 6th Avenue, Helena MT 59620-1800 ...406-444-5431 ....bocooper@mt.gov

State Grants: SLR administers federation support for public libraries from House Bill 193 and the Coal Severance Tax funds. The State Grants Consultant is Darlene Staffeldt, who can be reached at 406-444-5381 or in Montana 1-800-338-5087 or by E-mail at: dstaffeldt@mt.gov.

Montana Certification Program: Montana has a system established to certify librarians and library staff members. The certification process will provide the means by which librarians can improve their skills, boards can require and recognize such efforts on the part of their staffs, and, ultimately, library services will be improved. --- The recognition process provides a way for librarians, library boards, library federations to recognize the contributions of volunteers, trustees, and paid library staff who make significant contributions to public libraries. The Montana Certification Consultant is Diane Gunderson, who can be reached at 406-444-5349 or in Montana 1-800-338-5087 or by E-mail at: dgunderson@mt.gov.