Library Research Service

Library Research Service (LRS) is a nonprofit governmental research organization located in Denver, Colorado. LRS is a part of the Colorado State Library and was established in 1987 by then Colorado State Librarian, Nancy Bolt. The purpose of LRS is to provide public services related to the research and statistics of [public libraries], [school libraries] and [academic libraries]. LRS is the third-oldest established center of library research in the nation after the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Center for the Study of Rural Librarianship at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. It is the only library research center based in a state library agency and the only one west of the Mississippi River.

Research

Funding

LRS is funded by grants from a number of nonprofit agencies including, but are not limited to, the U.S. Department of Education, the State of Colorado, and the Bibliographical Center for Research. Grants are used by LRS to fund the design and implementation of research studies which examine a variety topics and issues important to library professionals working in school, public, or academic libraries. Research studies conducted by LRS provide information via original data sets, with intent of further analysis to be completed by the user, or provide analysis of previously collected data sets by LRS or by other nonprofit organizations.