Open to the public. Some materials are stored in a locked rare book room with independent climate control. Patrons can arrange admittance to this room through the reference staff.
Materials are available through interlibrary loan as long as duplicate copies are owned.
Approximately 15,000 Vermont titles dating from the 1770s to the present covering all aspects of Vermont history. The bulk of the collection is manually cataloged. All acquisitions beginning in 1985 are included in an online catalog available to the public. Older materials are in a separate collection within the rare book room. The DOL has the major collection of Vermont newspapers on microfilm in the state including some of the earliest known publications.