Kentucky. Dept. for Libraries and Archives.

The Library of the Commonwealth was established in 1820 (Chapter XVII) as a reference source for the legislature and other state government officials. The Kentucky Library Commission was created in 1910 (Chapter 27) to organize new libraries, to support and improve those already in existence, and to establish the traveling libraries.

In 1934 (Chapter 99), the Kentucky Library Commission and the part of the Library of the Commonwealth not embraced by the Law Library, were transferred to the Department of Public Property as a division. In 1936 (1st ex. 5., Chapter 1), the Department of Library and Archives was created and took over the functions of the Kentucky Library Commission, Library of the Commonwealth, and the State Law Library.

The new department was headed by a State Librarian and composed of the Library Extension Division, the Legislative and Law Library, and the Kentucky Historical Society. The Library Extension Division was vested with the functions of the former Kentucky Library Commission. The Legislative and Law Library took over the functions of the former Library of the Commonwealth and the Law Library.

When the Department of Library and Archives was abolished in 1954 (Chapter 41), the Library Extension Division continued as an independent agency headed by a director appointed by the governor. In 1962, (Chapter 106), the Library Extension Division became the Department of Libraries.

Then in 1974, the Division of State Archives and Records Management under the Department of Finance merged with the Department of Libraries. The merged department, known as the Department of Library and Archives, was placed within the Education and Arts Cabinet (Chapter 74). In 1982 (Chapter 381, Article VIII, Section 6), the name changed slightly and the Department for Libraries and Archives was established in the Education Cabinet.