New Jersey State Library | |
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Location | Trenton, New Jersey, United States |
Type | Public |
Established | 1796 |
Other information | |
Website |
The New Jersey State Library, based in Trenton, New Jersey, was established in 1796 to serve the information needs of New Jersey's Governor, Legislature and Judiciary. The State Library is also responsible to assist in the provision of library and information services to all New Jersey residents. [1] The State Library is an affiliate of Thomas Edison State University and is located in the Capitol Complex in Trenton.
Although scholars debate the New Jersey State Library's founding date, the collection began almost a century earlier. Between 1664 and 1702, New Jersey existed as two propriety colonies – East New Jersey and West New Jersey – with all governing documents in manuscript form. [2] In 1704, two years after becoming the Royal Colony of New Jersey, William Bradford began printing laws for the colony. This included An Act to Regulate the Purchasing of Law from the Indians, the first printed law in New Jersey, and a collection of laws passed between 1703 and 1709. In 1711, the assembly began consistently printing its laws and minutes and, by 1725, the “pages of Votes & Proceedings,” the colonial legislative publication, “were being sent to the printer weekly.” [3]
In 1742, the assembly began actively purchasing books and reference materials for the legislative collection, with their minutes referring to them as “books belonging ‘to the Colony of New Jersey.’” [4] By the 1750s, committee reports listed the sources used in each deliberation, which included several reference texts, such as law dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks on parliamentary procedure. [5] In the 1760s, there are several mentions of the assembly ordering boxes, shelving, and cases for their growing collection. The boxes and cases also enabled the assembly to safely transfer necessary documents and books between Perth Amboy and Burlington, the colony’s two capitals. In 1792, after Trenton was selected as the official capital, the collection received a permanent home, though, according to John T. Shaw, the “collection saw periods of neglect until the position of state librarian was created by the legislature in 1822.” [6] According to John Shaw "By 1873 the collection consisted of over 18,000 volumes and the library was well on its way to becoming the great research institution that it is today." [7]
The State Librarian serves as a representative to the office of the Governor of New Jersey, the New Jersey State Legislature, the various New Jersey state agencies, and other statewide organizations. The State Library Information Center provides resources and services to employees of the Government of New Jersey as well as to employees and students of Thomas Edison State University. Those same resources and services are available, through the Library Network, to residents throughout New Jersey. [8]
Other significant departments and activities within the State Library include the New Jersey State Library Talking Book & Braille Center, founded in 1967; the JerseyConnect infrastructure backbone and service capability; the Lifelong Learning unit; the Innovation & Strategic Partnerships unit; the Library Support Services unit; and the Office of Communication, Marketing & Outreach. [8]
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 until December 24, 1784. Trenton and Princeton are the two principal cities of the Trenton–Princeton metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses those cities and all of Mercer County for statistical purposes and constitutes part of the New York combined statistical area by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, Trenton directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area to its west, and the city was part of the Philadelphia combined statistical area from 1990 until 2000.
Sussex County is the northernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Newton. It is part of the New York metropolitan area and is part of New Jersey's Skylands Region. As of the 2020 census, the county was the state's 17th-most-populous county, with a population of 144,221, a decrease of 5,044 (−3.4%) from the 2010 census count of 149,265, which in turn reflected an increase of 5,099 (+3.5%) over the 144,166 persons at the 2000 census. Based on 2020 census data, Vernon Township was the county's largest in both population and area, with a population of 22,358 and covering an area of 70.59 square miles (182.8 km2). The county is part of the North Jersey region of the state.
Thomas Edison State University (TESU) is a public university in Trenton, New Jersey. The university is one of New Jersey's 11 senior public institutions of higher education. Thomas Edison State University offers degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Menlo Park is an unincorporated community within Edison Township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate. The Legislature meets in the New Jersey State House, in the state capital of Trenton.
Central Jersey, or Central New Jersey, is the middle region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The designation Central Jersey is a distinct administrative toponym. While New Jersey is often divided into North Jersey and South Jersey, many residents recognize Central Jersey as a distinct third entity. As of the 2020 census, Central Jersey has a population of 3,580,999.
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
The John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy is an American non-partisan research institute on public policy located at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. The Institute is named after New Jersey Assemblyman John S. Watson, the first African American to serve as the state's Chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Thomas Edison National Historical Park preserves Thomas Edison's laboratory and residence, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey, United States. These were designed, in 1887, by architect Henry Hudson Holly. The Edison laboratories operated for more than 40 years. Out of the West Orange laboratories came the motion picture camera, improved phonographs, sound recordings, silent and sound movies and the nickel-iron alkaline electric storage battery.
Lewis Morris, chief justice of New York and British governor of New Jersey, was the first lord of the manor of Morrisania in New York City.
Walter Reed Gusciora is an American Democratic Party politician who has served as the 48th mayor of Trenton, New Jersey since 2018. He previously served from 1996 to 2018 in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 15th Legislative District.
Richard Howell was the third governor of New Jersey from 1793 to 1801.
The New York State Library is a research library in Albany, New York, United States. It was established in 1818 to serve the state government of New York and is part of the New York State Education Department. The library is one of the largest in the world by number of items held, with over 20 million cataloged items in 2011.
The State Library of North Carolina is an institution which serves North Carolina libraries, state government employees, genealogists, and the citizens of North Carolina. The library is the main depository for North Carolina state publications and serves the needs of North Carolina government agencies and state government employees by providing access to information resources that are vital to public decision-making and economic development.
The government of the State of New Jersey is separated into three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The powers of the State of New Jersey are vested by the Constitution of New Jersey, enacted in 1947, in a bicameral state legislature, the Governor, and the state courts, headed the New Jersey Supreme Court. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of the state legislature, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
The New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) is a library organization located in Bordentown, New Jersey. It was established in 1890, and is the oldest library organization in the State of New Jersey. The NJLA began in 1890 with 39 members, and currently has over 1,700. The organization states on its website that it "advocates for the advancement of library services for the residents of New Jersey, provides continuing education & networking opportunities for librarians", and "supports the principles of intellectual freedom & promotes access to library materials for all".
Bonhamtown is a section of Edison Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States.
The State Library of Iowa is a library service in the U.S. state of Iowa. Founded in around 1840, it is based in Des Moines and is run by the Iowa Department of Education. The State Library supports local libraries in the state and it itself acts as a resource for the state government and its citizens. It is funded from local taxation.
Edmund Waring Wakelee was an American lawyer, politician, and utility executive from New Jersey.