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Our Natural Heritage Program (NHP) provides a treasure trove of information on Montana's species and habitats. This natural resources data is used daily by government agencies, businesses, nonprofits, and citizens.
Bryce Maxell, NHP Coordinator, recently offered an online training on how to use the iNaturalist app to submit data that can be added to the program's databases.
With the iNaturalist phone app, you can capture images of the plants and animals around you, identify the species, learn more about them, and submit the observation. Observation are then quality assessed by a large team of experts and added to the NHP databases.
Learn how to use the iNaturalist app and hear some cool stories about how citizen submissions have stopped the spread of invasive weeds and documented rare species. Start capturing pictures today and add to the hundreds of thousands of observations that have been gathered so far.
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Corey Sloan is excited to be the new Statewide Consulting Librarian for the Broad Valleys and Pathfinder regions of the great state of Montana. She will be assisting library directors and boards with their varied needs.
Savanna Sill is our new Montana Library Network Coordinator. She is responsible for developing, evaluating, and overseeing new and existing collaborative efforts designed to create scalable infrastructure and services for libraries in Montana. Savanna was previously the Child and Youth Program Director for the Montana Army National Guard for over 5.5 years with another 7+ years of experience in youth programming for nonprofits.
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Last year, our Montana History Portal piloted their first LEGO challenge with our friends at the Lewis & Clark Public Library. This event was a resounding success with attendees recreating historic images from the Portal into Lego creations.
Our History Portal staff took what they learned from that event and partnered with our Lifelong Learning Librarian to create a Virtual Trunk Program for Montana's public libraries.
This virtual trunk is available to librarians across the state and contains everything needed to offer a LEGO challenge that will capture the imagination of your community members ages 5 and up. This program should inspire interest in and education about Montana history, while using science, technology, art, and math skills (STEAM).
Visit our Virtual Trunks website to access printable instructions, entry forms, ballots, marketing templates and more to host this program at your library!
Click here for more info and CE qualifying training.
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 Working to Improve the Lives of All Montanans
The Montana State Library provides information, resources, and guidance to organizations, communities, and residents of Montana to help them expand their knowledge and empower their decisions.
Our leading-edge data and applications help those seeking answers about Montana’s government, natural resources, heritage, land ownership, and more while our vital services improve public libraries and provide reading materials to those with disabilities. For more information, visit https://msl.mt.gov/.
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Jack Dangermond, president and founder of Esri, awarded the Montana State Library the Special Achievement in GIS Award at the 2024 Esri User Conference. This award recognizes organizations using GIS to improve our world by setting new precedents throughout the GIS community.
Erin Fashoway, Montana GIS Coordinator, accepted the award for ongoing efforts by Montana State Library to provide open data, geospatial applications, data sharing agreements and innovative GIS services to support all of Montana in an easy to use and accessible platform, leveraging Esri technology, Esri services and Esri business partners.
The State Library provides statewide geospatial information on land ownership, boundary, structure, address, transportation, and other datasets through maps, application, and data feeds. This investment in GIS empowers government agencies, businesses and industries, educational organizations, and citizens to better understand Montana’s economy, demography, landscape, and much more. Learn more about our GIS services here!
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 Deep Dive into Data About Our Public Libraries
Data is the backbone of our work at the Montana State Library. Our Data Coordinator, Rebekah Kamp, gathers data about Montana's public libraries and compiles it in our Public Library Statistics Dashboard.
It is a very useful tool for seeing how Montana libraries are doing, comparing statistics across regions or similar size libraries, or simply analyzing a library's statistics over a long period of time. This tool helps libraries set goals and make decisions about which services to invest in for the betterment of their community.
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Charles E. Morris Collection. A collection of Morris' penny postcards shows Montana transforming from open range to the homestead era. Contributor: Blaine County Museum. |
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"Congratulations to our GIS staff. Being recognized through the ESRI Special Achievement in GIS Award is so well deserved. How best to serve Montanans is foremost on their minds and the minds of all our staff. That this work is recognized at the highest levels of the GIS profession is an incredible honor."
Jennie Stapp, State Librarian
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Knowledge about Montana, for Montanans, by Montanans
The Montana State Library helps all organizations, communities, and Montanans thrive through excellent library resources and services.
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