The State Library of Kansas is a department within the state government of Kansas, with locations in Topeka and Emporia. Jo Budler is the State Librarian.
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The research collections and most of the staff of the State Library of Kansas have been located on the third floor of the Kansas State Capitol at 10th and Jackson Streets in downtown Topeka, Kansas, since 1900. In December, 2009, the staff was moved out of its third floor location in the State Capitol and into mobile units on the Capitol grounds during renovation of the north wing of the Capitol. The Library's collections were moved to an Annex in Topeka in April, 2010. A return to the third floor of the Capitol is scheduled from sometime in 2012. The Library's Talking Books Library is located in the lower level of the Student Union, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas.
Databases available from the State Library- accessible from any computer maintained by DISC.
NewsBank - It provides full- text articles from the electronic editions of record for more than 600 U.S. newspapers- all in one easy-to-search database.
Lexis-Nexis State Capital - This web-based service provides access to documents from all 50 state capitals. Source material includes bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted regulations, legislature membership, and newspapers of record.
Million Dollar Database - It provides comprehensive marketing information on both public and private companies and their executives. The State Library has subscribed to the Kansas portion of the database including Kansas companies and companies with a subsidiary located in Kansas.
The Kansas Center for the Book is a state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. The Kansas Center for the Book affiliated with the national Center for the Book in 1987, and was hosted and headquartered at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library from then until 2005, when it moved to the State Library of Kansas. It is now a non-profit, tax-exempt program of the State Library.
The Kansas Talking Book Service, headquartered in Emporia, Kansas, provides books, newspapers and magazines in braille and recorded format with playback equipment to any Kansas citizen unable to use standard print because of visual or physical impairment. The program is coordinated through the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.
The Service heads a network of Kansas Talking Book subregional libraries located in Great Bend, Manhattan, Norton, Wichita and Topeka, Kansas.
The Online Services division lends downloadable audio books, music, and video. For a tour of how it works go view the Digital Media Guided Tour. In order to use this service, a free software needs to be installed. This division also provides a Kansas Library Card, which allows access to these databases:
This division also allows access Homework Kansas. Homework Kansas provides Free Tutoring in Math • Science • Social Studies • English for Grades 4-12 and College Intro. Their hours of operation are 4 pm to 11 pm, daily.
The Research and Information Division serves the research and reference needs of state government and the general public. The Division, located in Topeka, has a collection of over 250,000 titles including books, magazines, current newspapers, U.S. federal documents, Kansas government documents, Kansas legislative material and a newspaper clippings file dating back to the 1920's. Research assistance is provided for walk-in, telephone, text message, instant message and email questions. Interlibrary loan service is also available providing material within the library's collection to people around the world.