State Library of Kansas

The State Library of Kansas is a department within the state government of Kansas, with locations in Topeka, Emporia and Independence. Christie Brandau is the State Librarian.

Locations

The research collections and most of the staff of the State Library of Kansas are located on the third floor of the Kansas State Capitol at 10th and Jackson Streets in downtown Topeka, Kansas. The Library's Talking Books Library is located in the lower level of the Student Union, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas. An office for Special Projects is in Independence, Kansas.

Databases Onsite

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.

Kansas Center for the Book

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.

Kansas Talking Books

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, Iola, Manhattan, Norton and Topeka, Kansas.

Kansas Virtual Library

The [http://www.kslib.info/ksvirtuallibrary.html Online Services] division lends downloadable audio books, music, and video. For a tour of how it works go view the [http://kansas.lib.overdrive.com/55226384-3352-4A57-AB5F-55C5AAB3B6C7/10/308/en/Tour.htm 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:

*FirstSearch - articles from electronic journals and full-text journals.
*Infotrac Web - citations and full-text articles in journals and other news sources.
*SIRS Discoverer - Reference database for which helps students in grades 1-9 develop their research, writing, language and computer skills.
*NetLibrary eBooks - More than 12,000 eBooks are available.
*ProQuest - Includes Nursing Journals Database, The ABI/Inform suite of Business and Economics resources and Research Library (2250 full text journals).
*Informe! (Revistas en Español) - Una colección de revistas hispánicas con textos completos. Abarca negocios, salud, tecnología, cultura, temas de actualidad y otras materias.
*Heritage Quest - A genealogy database.
*Literature Resource Center - Includes author biographies, literary essays, overviews, plots, criticism and critical essays on poetry, children literature, classical and medieval works, plus much more.
*Custom Newspapers - A full text database of over 160 U.S. newspapers.
*WorldBook Encyclopedia - Every article in the 22 volume print edition.

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.

Research and Information Division

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 and email questions. Interlibrary loan service is also available providing material within the library's collection to people around the world.

Books

* Gardiner, Allen. "The Kansas State Library" (1983)

External links

* [http://www.skyways.org/KSL/ State Library of Kansas]
* [http://www.skyways.org/KSL/askaquestion.html State Library's Ask-A-Question service]
* [http://skyways.lib.ks.us/orgs/kcfb/about_us.htm Kansas Center for the Book]
* [http://skyways.lib.ks.us/orgs/kansasreads/index.html Kansas Reads Program]
* [http://skyways.lib.ks.us/KSL/talking/ksl_bph.html Kansas Talking Book Service]
* [http://lib.wuacc.edu/search/ ATLAS, Topeka research libraries online catalog]