In 2002, state employees throughout Montana are familiar with and value the services of the Library and Information Services Department. The Governor supports the department as a strategic partner with professionals, executives and other information providers delivering timely, authoritative information resources to desktops of state employees advising and making decisions. Friendly, service-oriented librarians, generally knowledgeable in state government affairs, consult with agency representatives to monitor emerging issues. Using expert knowledge of information resources in these subject areas, they create descriptive guides and bibliographies pointing to relevant resources.
Librarians design and promote value-added information services in response to identified needs.
State employees use the department's website and their email software to register, request loans, photocopies, current awareness services, literature searches, and document retrieval, and to schedule training or consulting services. Urgent requests receive priority attention and are handled within required timeframes. Librarians are readily available by telephone or at the Library and assist individuals to define questions, use resources, and develop strategies for finding answers in unfamiliar topic areas. Librarians provide expert instruction in using the Internet and networked information services and in managing individual professional and agency information resources. State employees frequent the quiet reading area, free from distracting phone calls and colleagues, to research issues and monitor current developments described in periodicals and other publications recently received in the Library.