Blood Drive at ASL this Thursday!

The Arkansas State Library is hosting its second annual Red Cross blood drive this Thursday, February 2nd from 10 AM to 4 PM. If you can spare the time, please consider dropping by. The blood drive is open to everyone - state employees and the public. You can sign up online at the Red Cross website or contact Mindy Hodges (mindy (at) library.arkansas.gov) for more information. We are located at 900 West Capitol, Suite 100 in Little Rock.

Arkansas State Government Resources

Here in Arkansas, the Fiscal Session of the 88th General Assembly starts next month, on February 13th. Right now, legislators are preparing and filing proposed legislation and holding preparatory meetings. You can see the daily schedule of committee meetings, find information about state legislators, and once the session has started, see what bills were filed that day, all on the legislature's home page. You can also find links to searchable versions of the Acts of Arkansas back to 1987, and the Arkansas Code (the state statutes that provide the laws for the state).

Here at the State Library, we have the Acts of Arkansas going back to early statehood, as well as the most recent version of the Arkansas Code. Because we are a government depository, we also have information published by other Arkansas state agencies, as well as the rules and regulations that govern those agencies. These collections are all open for public use, and our reference librarians can help you find the materials you need. To send a request, use our Ask a Librarian form.

How to Request a Book

In addition to the reference services, the Arkansas State Library also has an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service open to public, college, university, and special libraries, as well as requests for work-related materials for full-time permanent Arkansas state employees.  State employees' requests must be directly related to their state jobs, and not to personal research, academic classwork, or extracurricular activities.  


As with reference requests, there is a handy ILL form available for you to place your request. The state employee form is here, and the library form is here.


For more information on the ILL eligibility requirements, please visit the ILL page of our website or contact the library at 501-682-2053.  

Ask a Librarian Reminder

As I like to do periodically, I want to remind you how to ask a reference question of the librarians here at the Arkansas State Library. While our primary mission is to serve state agencies and state employees, we are ready and willing to answer questions from the general public, public librarians, school teachers, college students, high school students, and everyone in between. If we can't find the answer in our databases and collections, we will do our best to find someone who does have the answer.  You can contact us by phone during office hours at (501) 682-2053, or any time by using our handy Ask a Librarian form, or by writing us at:

Arkansas State Library, Attn. Reference
900 West Capitol, Suite 100
Little Rock, AR 72201

Please include a reliable way to reach you; if you have email but only check it once a month, make sure we also have a phone number and/or mailing address. 

If you prefer, you can also come to the library and speak to us in person.  Our hours are Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4:30 PM.  

We generally answer questions within 24 hours, except during weekends and holidays.


Speaking of holidays, the library and all other state agencies will be closed next Monday, January 16th in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. 

E-Rate filing begins next week

E-Rate is a program through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that allows schools and libraries to receive discounts on connectivity such as telecommunications and internet access.  By funding discounts on connectivity, E-Rate allows schools and libraries to keep pace with constantly evolving technology.


The filing window for E-Rate applications opens next Monday, January 9th at 11 A.M. If your library or school is eligible, now is the time to apply. If you have any questions of need help with the process, contact Amber Gregory, Coordinator of E-Rate Services, amber@library.arkansas.gov, 501-682-8576.  For more information, you can also visit the E-Rate page of our website: http://www.library.arkansas.gov/Erate/Pages/default.aspx