The Branch provides leadership and technical assistance to improve library service. Origins of the Public Libraries and State Networking Branch trace to 1902 when the State Library Commission was created. Commission responsibilities for public library development were assigned to the Office of Public Libraries under the State Board of Education in 1935, and to the Division of Library Extension from 1947 to 1971.  Within the Division of Library Development and Services, the Public Libraries Branch was formed in 1971 and renamed the Public Libraries and State Networking Branch in 1988.