We’ve been talking about the value of libraries, let’s talk a little bit about cost. Knowing how libraries raise and spend money is essential to understanding them. This essay begins a multi-part fiscal exploration of Montana publicly funded libraries. (Note: This discusses only publicly funded libraries.)

All told, Montana’s publicly funded libraries spend more than $102 million each year. Overall, we’re talking about the cost of more than 800 libraries serving 1.1 million people. Montana public entities spend over $30 billion yearly for local and state government (including on schools and higher education). $102 million amounts to 00.34% (about a third of one percent) of Montanans’ total yearly public spending.

There are four general types of libraries: academic, public, school, and special. Their revenue sources and expenditures break down thusly:

Academic libraries (e.g., universities, colleges, tribal colleges) are funded by a mixture of institution-specific funds, statewide resources and student library fees. These funding sources are supplemented by federal funds, special revenue funds, and private and corporate donations and endowments.

The Montana University System is comprised of sixteen public colleges and universities. Additionally, there are seven tribal colleges in Montana, four of which have received some funding from the State Library to support their public-library type services.

Based on conversations with several MUS librarians, my best guess is that Montana Higher Education System libraries spend a little over $20 million each year.

Like all Montana’s libraries, our public libraries are perennially underfunded, which may explain the variety of funding strategies they’ve assembled to keep their doors open. Public libraries primarily rely on local taxes. While some libraries are funded through city and county general funds, many public libraries have secured a library-specific mill levy, sometimes a continuing mill levy which provides funding over time. These levies are either set through negotiations with local governments, or through direct voter support.

A few Montana public libraries have formed a library district, the purpose of which is to raise enough tax revenues to pay for library resources to meet local needs. These districts operate like school districts with voter approved levies and elected library boards.

State and federal funding, managed by the Montana State Library Commission, supplies a small (about 1%) but essential portion of most public libraries’ budget.

Montana public libraries reported operating expenditures of about $37 million dollars in 2024.

Montana’s publicly funded **school libraries** are supported by local property taxes (~30%) and a mixture of funds from federal and state sources (~68%). Across Montana schools spent $2.5 billion in FY 2024. School Library Journal reports that nationally, school libraries spend about $12 a student. There were about 151,000 Montana public K-12 students in 2022, which at $12 per student suggests that Montana school libraries might have in 2022 spent about $1.8 million dollars on books and content in general. OPI reports that Montana Schools spend $28.4M annually on personnel for ‘Education Media Services’. Allowing for some latitude in the way that schools report librarian salaries, this suggests that statewide, school libraries might expend about $30M annually.

The State Library lists 57 special libraries (mostly medical, law, museum, and research libraries) in Montana. A few of these are publicly funded, by state or the federal government. After examining several of the larger State funded special libraries’ budgets, I estimate that they spend somewhere north of $15 million annually.

While it’s useful to parse the way different types of libraries get and spend money, let’s remember that for most of our users, a library is a library is a library. Our users patronize different types of libraries, for different purposes, at different times in their lives. The community of Montana libraries serves as a tag team, supporting learning, promoting happiness, and providing Montanans a continuum of library services for every chapter of their lives.

In the coming few months we’ll explore some promising funding avenues available to Montana libraries.

Bruce Newell, February 2026