MSL Home > About MSL > Annual report > 2010 > FY10 Annual Report
2010 Annual Report
Montana State Library Revenue and Expenditures
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Letter from the State Librarian
I’ve been a librarian for nearly 30 years and have witnessed firsthand how my profession has handled the tremendous increase in information and the many ways we receive it. We have adapted as capably as any profession, serving growing numbers of patrons with increasingly complex informational needs with new ways of doing our business making it all possible.
In my discussions with my staff and with Montana librarians, I've learned how their jobs have expanded with the demand for computers and training, and because so many other government services are being cut. The people left in the lurch have looked to the library, where kind, knowledgeable professionals help them navigate the government bureaucracy, apply for benefits, and access social services.
And if you visit the Montana State Library or your local public library, you will see an essential service in action, as librarians help people who don't have other ways to get online, can't get the answers they urgently need, or simply need a safe and warm place to work or to bring their children. I've stood in the parking lot of many public libraries as the doors have opened for the morning and watched families pour through those doors, heading in all directions to do homework or genealogical research, attend computer classes, read the newspapers, look for jobs. My staff and librarians throughout the state now serve as interpreters and guides to government information and services, natural resources information, as well as communities of cancer survivors, Spanish-speaking citizens, teenage filmmakers, veterans.
We librarians are idealists, who believe that accurate information leads to good decisions and that exposure to the intellectual riches of civilization leads to a better world. The next Abraham Lincoln could be sitting in one of our libraries, teaching himself all he needs to know to save the country. In fact, Montana’s own Maurice Hilleman, who pioneered preventative medicine and developed over 40 vaccines, including those for mumps, measles, hepatitis A, chickenpox, meningitis, and pneumonia, credited the library in his hometown of Miles City for his interest in medicine. In the Miles City Public Library, Hilleman checked out the books he needed to explore our world and the rest, as they say, is history – much like many of the diseases that Hilleman helped to eradicate from the Earth.
Today, librarians help folks get online, sort through tremendous amounts of information, look for jobs, apply to schools, register for social services, learn new skills. A librarian represents the best civic value out there; we are a small army of resourceful workers that can help you, your neighbors – all of Montana, in fact – compete in the world.
As you’ll see in our annual report, the State Library continues to strive forward to serve our diverse patrons – state and federal agency employees, business owners, Montana’s physically handicapped and disabled, and Montana librarians. And I hope you’ll agree that your Montana State Library is one of the most effective levelers of privilege and avenues of reinvention — one of the great engines of democracy — that touches the lives of Montanans from one end of our beautiful state to the other.
Montana State Digital Library
Natural Resource Information System (NRIS)
The Montana State Library’s Natural Resource Information System is a one-stop access point for data on Montana’s natural resources and geography for citizens, business owners, government employees, and decision makers.
The Natural Resource Information System (NRIS) worked with the Montana Historical Society (MHS) to develop “The Montana Place Names Companion,” an online companion application to the book “Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman,” published by the Montana Historical Society Press in 2009. When research for the book began in 2003, MHS staff sought help from NRIS to develop and maintain a database that effectively compiled the collected research. Both entities agreed that an online version of the book could and should be created using the database of research.
The book, thoroughly researched and written by MHS staff, details the origin of place names for over 1,200 geographic locations in Montana and is filled with history and anecdotes from every corner of Montana. Web users can enjoy the full “book” experience by using the online “Companion” to find information about the same places highlighted in the book. Search results are displayed in an online map and users can read descriptions of each place name as they appear in the book. Also included are all of the book’s photos, as well as the geographic location of each place. Check out the Place Names Companion at http://mtplacenames.org.
Since mapping and GIS technology are changing so rapidly, NRIS released an updated Montana GIS Portal with a clean new interface, improved search results, and access to a wider variety of map services. You can visit the GIS Portal at http://gisportal.mt.gov.
The Montana State Library received a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award at the 2009 ESRI International User Conference for its vision, leadership, and innovative use of ESRI’s geographic information system (GIS) technology. The Montana State Library was one of approximately 150 recipients selected from more than 300,000 organizations worldwide.
Long-time NRIS GIS analyst Gerry Daumiller was named the State Names Advisor for the State of Montana. The State Names Advisor, an appointed position, works with the U.S. Board of Geographic Names (BOGN) to determine what names the federal government recognizes for places, geographic locations, and natural features on the landscape. Gerry is responsible for determining if there are any objections to a chosen name by any of the state agencies or counties affected by the name change. If a consensus can’t be reached, Gerry makes the final decision and advises the BOGN. Gerry created a page on the NRIS web site to help keep the public informed about the status of proposed name changes, which you can find at http://msl.mt.gov/geonames/.
Montana Natural Heritage Program (MTNHP)
The Montana State Library’s Natural Heritage Program is Montana’s best source for information on our state’s animals, plants, and ecosystems, emphasizing those of conservation concern. The information provided by MTNHP is critical to land managers, planners, agriculture, research, education, and recreation.
The Montana Natural Heritage Program completed major updates to the Montana Field Guide, a collaborative web site with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP). Updates include: 1) release of an Ecological Systems Field Guide, which provides detailed profiles of ecological systems mapped in Montana; 2) maps showing relative density and recency and charts showing elevational and temporal distributions of animal observations; 3) associations of animals with ecological systems that cross references the animal and ecological systems portions of the field guide; 4) links and directed searches for articles containing information on each species on WorldCat, Google Scholar, Google Books, and Science.gov search engines to provide greater access of other sources of information on individual species as well as the repositories to the general public and resource managers; 5) addition of 100 new bird calls from the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds, which makes calls available for all passerine birds commonly encountered in Montana.
MTNHP’s Wetland and Riparian Mapping Center recently surpassed one million acres of mapped wetlands and riparian areas across Montana. Additionally, wetland and riparian mapping information has also been made accessible in multiple user friendly formats via a new web site, which can be found at http://mtnhp.org/nwi/nwi_data.asp.
MTNHP Point Observation Databases surpassed a milestone of one million animal observations, an increase of over 800,000 records in the last five years. Additionally, nearly 98,000 locations have been documented in the central databases where a structured animal survey, such as a bird point count or small mammal trapping station, was performed. This information has been made accessible to the general public, biologists, and natural resource managers via both the Natural Heritage Tracker and the Montana Field Guide.
MTNHP released a first edition “Checklist of Montana Vascular Plants”, which can be found at http://mtnhp.org/DOCS/020210_MT_Plant_List.pdf. The Checklist provides the scientific and common names, global and state status ranks, origin (native or exotic), wetland indicator status, and coefficient of conservatism for 2,559 vascular plant species.
Library Information Services (LIS)
The Montana State Library’s Library Information Services division is making use of new technology to make our collections and many resources even more accessible to our users.
The Montana State Library completed its Fiscal Year 2010 digitization contract on time and on budget. As a result, 3,882 state publications were scanned, creating 260,772 digital pages. Additionally, all scanned publications provide permanent and direct full text access. Over the last two years, 12,026 state publications, or about 20% of our collection, have been scanned, totaling 916,633 scanned pages. In that same two-year time period, these publications have been downloaded 357,710 times. Use rates of the online publications are 250 times higher than their print equivalent.
The Montana State Library also worked with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) to process, ship, and have scanned the complete series of the popular title, Montana Outdoors. The digital series includes all of the title variations dating back to 1928, including Montana Wildlife Bulletin and Montana Wildlife. Additionally, FWP will provide the Montana State Library with digital copies of all future issues for online access and all but the two most recent issues of the magazine will be made available online for free to anyone who is interested.
The Montana State Library is one of three Montana libraries to pilot WorldCat Local, a new service that is designed to help its users and information seekers from throughout the state to more easily locate and obtain items within the collections of the State Library. This new catalog interface provides faceted search results, citation and social networking tools and extends search capabilities into some of MSL’s licensed databases. In addition to launching WorldCat Local, MSL has also adopted a new tool called EZproxy that allows state employees to easily authenticate from the state network into the Montana Shared Catalog, as well as a host of licensed databases, increasing use of these resources immensely.
Statewide Library Resources
Library Development Department
The Montana State Library’s Library Development and Statewide Library Resources divisions work directly with Montana’s public libraries to pilot new programs, provide training and outreach, and negotiate statewide purchases so that all libraries can offer their patrons a range of the very best library services and materials available.
As downloadable books have gained in popularity, the Montana State Library answered patrons’ requests and needs by offering books for free download to a range of media players, such as ipad and iphones, as well as ebook readers. Currently, 48 libraries and branches participate in the program, called MontanaLibrary2Go, with more libraries and branches joining all of the time. The collection that is available to patrons for download has increased to 3,800 audiobook titles.
“Thank you all for the downloadable electronic books on your web site. I download at least two books a week and I’ve listened to those books while traveling all over the state. Thank you! Thank you! (Patron from Kalispell who works with the Montana Community Foundation.)
The Montana Courier Pilot is based on funding approved by the Montana Legislature for FY2010 and FY2011. Pilot funding goes toward maintaining a courier service between twelve “drop sites” statewide. Participating libraries independently determine, with their drop site library, the method of moving their materials between their library and their drop site. All “served” libraries that participate in the pilot are responsible for the cost of moving materials to and from their assigned drop site. The pilot has grown quickly and the number of items moved between libraries has increased monthly, increasing by 40% in months 2 and 3 of the pilot.
“In a short three months, April, May, and June, we have saved at least $1,000 in postage, mailing supplies, and staff time thanks to the courier project. ILL staff report that a number of the libraries in the pilot, particularly the smaller libraries, are utilizing Lewis & Clark Library more, and in turn, we are using our “project” libraries more. ILL staff at Lewis & Clark love the service.” (Judy Hart, Director of Lewis & Clark Library, Helena).
The Montana State Library is able to provide statewide databases to all Montana libraries, at no cost to the libraries, because of an allocation from the Montana Legislature. Patrons use these databases to find answers to everything from how to fix their car engine (with the automotive and small engine repair databases) to how to start their own small business (with the business and career guidance databases). With over 57 databases available to every single Montanan, library patrons are certain to find what they need – whether it’s a practice test to get into college or information they need about a recent health diagnosis.
The Montana State Library launched its early literacy initiative, Ready 2 Read, a project that aims to help parents and caregivers understand the value of sharing language and literacy with their children. To support the program, MSL offered extensive training on early childhood development to librarians in every corner of the state and provided bins of board books to 45 libraries that then launched “Books and Babies” programs as a way to promote early literacy development for Montana’s youngest library patrons, children from birth to age five.
Fifty-one Montana residents of Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, and Wyoming received scholarships equaling $559,197 to pursue library education and a professional career in librarianship as part of the SWIM program, a regional project that assists residents of Montana and three neighboring states to become professional librarians. Nineteen of those selected to receive scholarships were Montana residents. These future librarians will stay in the region after graduating and provide professional informational services to their communities at public, school, and special libraries.
The Montana State Library continued to offer extensive training in the form of workshops, conferences, presentations at meetings and online classes for librarians around the state as a way to keep up with the latest in the world of libraries and to earn the continuing education endorsements they need. One of those sessions was an online conference called “MSL Spring Training Online: Spotlight on Montana Information.” The event is now archived at http://mslonline.pbworks.com.
All sessions were presented in the Montana State Library OPAL online meeting room. Ten presentations were delivered to more than 100 participant hours – many participants attended more than one session and some people attended each session, staying online for two days. All presentations were recorded for later on-demand viewing.
Montana Talking Book Library (MTBL)
The Montana State Library’s Talking Book Library program ensures that all qualified Montana residents who, because of a disability, are not able to use standard print resources, have free and easy access to reading materials.
In June, 2009, MTBL staff announced the availability of digital talking books and players, making a qualitative leap into the modern age of technology. Nearly 20,000 digital talking books and nearly 1,200 digital players from MTBL have been circulated to over 2,500 Montana patrons. The NLS BARD service was made available for qualified patrons. Thousands of accessible NLS BARD books have now been downloaded by Montana patrons – just another way the State Library perseveres to insure “That All May Read” with cutting edge and accessible technology.
“I didn’t think my life could get any easier but it has now that I have my digital player and books. Thank you for making sure us blind folks have the same access to wonderful books as everyone else does. This rocks!” (patron from Hamilton)
“Just finished listening to another digital book. I just turned 92 and words fail me to express my gratitude for these talking books and the new digital machine that is so simple to use.” (patron from Great Falls)
