While there are certainly commonalities among state library agencies, there are also great differences. The Functions and Roles of State Library Agencies examines both the common and uncommon services that state library agencies provide and illuminates emerging trends in state library practice.

Compilers Ethel E. Himmel and William J. Wilson surveyed state library agencies and share their findings in this new publication. They provide an overview of state library agencies and discuss services provided to the public, government and libraries. In the section on roles of state library agencies, experts including Barratt Wilkins, Nancy Bolt, Amy Owen and Sara Parker contribute essays on the art of state librarianship, roles in an electronic age and recent developments in evaluation and measurement.

The compilers include charts with the descriptions of state library agencies; collections administered by state library agencies; and library services, functions and operations. Although The Functions and Roles of State Library Agencies replaces Standards for Library Functions at the State Level (3rd ed.) published by the American Library Association in 1985, Nancy Bolt explains in her foreword, "it is different both in its form and function." Bolt writes, "Like local libraries, state library agencies serve diverse audiences. No one set of standards is appropriate or applicable for all fifty state library agencies plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories

Compiled by: Ethel E. Himmel, William J. Wilson