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The
State Library,
State Museum,
State Archives and the
Public Broadcasting Program comprise the Office of Cultural
Education (OCE). These institutions are responsible for increasing
the knowledge and information resources of State and local
government, businesses, and individuals. The Office supports
research, operates programs, and develops collections that serve the
long-term interests of the institutions and residents of New York.
The Office of Cultural Education
provides services directly to individuals and government at the
New York State Library,
the State Archives and
State Museum. OCE also
distributes aid to libraries and library systems, local governments,
and public broadcasting stations, and provides instructional
television services through the
Public Broadcasting Program.
New York State Research
Library
Founded in 1818, the Library provides information services for the
government and people of New York State through its direct services
and interlibrary loan program. In the Cultural Education Center, the
Library has a collection of over 20 million items, filling 96 linear
miles of shelving, and 18,000 cubic feet of manuscripts and other
special collections. Its particular strengths are in law, medicine,
social sciences, education, history, certain pure sciences and
technology, and New York State documents. The
Library’s holdings
include a significant manuscript and rare book collection, as well
as holdings in a wide variety of formats, including paper, microform
and electronic records. The Library answers over 123,000 information
requests annually, and provides 500 databases for on-site research,
and access to thousands of online bibliographic and statistical
databases.
The Library also operates the
Talking Book and Braille Library (TBBL),
which provides reading material (books in Braille and recorded
media) to over 54,000 eligible readers, who are visually impaired,
physically disabled or learning disabled.
New York State Museum
The State Museum, with approximately 120,000 sq. ft. in exhibit
gallery space, is the single largest tourist attraction for the
Capital Region, welcoming almost 1 million visitors yearly. The
Museum’s direct service to the public include a permanent and
temporary exhibit program, a full slate of 200 public programs a
year, a variety of educational programs for school-aged children,
and direct access to collections for researchers and other
interested parties.
Since its establishment in 1843, the
State Museum collections and
staff research provide the basis for its services to the public. On
behalf of the people of New York State, the
Museum cares for over 6
million specimens and artifacts. Museum holdings include: natural
history specimens in geology, paleontology, zoology, and botany;
historical, ethnographic, and archaeological artifacts incorporating
wood, textiles, leather, bone, metal, ceramics, glass, stone, and
mixed media; visual arts collections on canvas, paper, and film; and
paper-based, photographic, and electronic collections documentation.
New York State Archives
The “youngest” of the three institutions, the
State Archives was
created by law in 1971, and began full operation in 1978. The
Archives identifies, accessions, and preserves those records of New
York State government that have permanent value, in terms of
history, government accountability and research. The
Archives houses
paper, parchment, photographic and electronic records, now totaling
more than 75,000 cubic feet. Last year, its staff responded to more
than 60,000 research requests from government, business and the
general public. Holdings of the
Archives include records from all
three branches of State Government and document virtually every
aspect and era of New York history.
The State Archives also operates the
New York State Records Center,
which provides
State government agencies with secure, cost-effective
storage and retrieval services for more than 233,000 cubic feet of
inactive paper and electronic records.
Office of Educational Television and Public Broadcasting
ETV/PB is charged with the responsibility of
maintaining a financially sound broadcasting system in the State
through the administration of local assistance funds for the
operational, programmatic and instructional needs of the 11 State
public
television stations and 16
public radio stations. This
responsibility of the Office provides an opportunity to help the
Education Department form cost-effective, dynamic partnerships
between itself and public broadcasting and between public
broadcasting and the educational community. To this end, the
Office
is committed to a long-term, broad-based effort to meet educational
needs that can best be addressed through public broadcasting and
telecommunications technologies.
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