State Librarian's Letter
On behalf of the Montana State Library, I would like to welcome you to the 2015 legislative session. We appreciate the dedication of the Legislators, the Governor’s Office, the staff of legislative and executive branch agencies and the citizens of Montana who come to Helena every other year to work hard on behalf of all Montanans. We hope that this information booklet, compiled by our information experts and full of data on issues of state and national importance, will help inform many of the decisions that will be made during the legislative process in the coming months.
Both the print and online versions of the 2015 Legislative Snapshot include a wide range of information on issues that affect Montanans. Additionally, this year’s online version, is customizable to search by legislative district or county level where applicable. Expanding tables can be open or closed, and users may select specific districts or counties to compare as they browse pages.
To begin to customize the Snapshot, visit the Customize Snapshot page and choose one or more of the following options. When you choose one of the following selections and then submit the form, the associated panel will remain open as you browse the Snapshot.
- Statewide (open by default)
- Selected Senate/House Districts – a panel will open allowing users to select specific districts
- All Senate/House Districts
- Selected Counties - a panel will open allowing users to select specific districts
- All Counties
When you select specific districts or counties, the associated tables will be highlighted as shown below as you browse through the Snapshot.
- Senate Districts
- House Districts
- Counties
We created this booklet not only to provide vital information to help people make difficult decisions in the coming months, but to demonstrate the power of what a diverse staff with amazingly diverse skills can do to make information, in many different forms, available to every Montanan. The work of the Montana State Library empowers Montanans by providing access to information, enhancing learning in families and communities, and building 21st Century skills. Knowing that our work makes a difference makes us very proud.
This snapshot was developed primarily as a tool to support our decision makers during the session, but we also make this snapshot available to the public. Whether you are a decision maker or a constituent, doing work as a professional or seeking to be a more informed citizen, and whether you are using this snapshot while tracking the legislative session or as a research tool, we hope you will find it easy to access key information about current issues and links to valuable sources data from a variety of resources that will allow you do to more in depth research on your own.
We hope that you use this Legislative Snapshot throughout the session. And we hope that you will stop by to see us – in person or virtually. We are located one block east of the Capitol, behind the Montana Historical Society, at the north end of the Justice building. And of course, our services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at //msl.mt.gov.
Sincerely,
Jennie Stapp
Montana State Librarian
