Although scholars debate the New Jersey State Library's founding date, the collection began almost a century earlier.

In 1711, the assembly began consistently printing its laws and minutes and, by 1725, the “pages of Votes & Proceedings,” the colonial legislative publication, “were being sent to the printer weekly.”[3] In 1742, the assembly began actively purchasing books and reference materials for the legislative collection, with their minutes referring to them as “books belonging ‘to the Colony of New Jersey.’”[4] By the 1750s, committee reports listed the sources used in each deliberation, which included several reference texts, such as law dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks on parliamentary procedure.

[5] In the 1760s, there are several mentions of the assembly ordering boxes, shelving, and cases for their growing collection.

The boxes and cases also enabled the assembly to safely transfer necessary documents and books between Perth Amboy and Burlington, the colony’s two capitals.

[8] Other significant departments and activities within the State Library include the New Jersey State Library Talking Book & Braille Center, founded in 1967; the JerseyConnect infrastructure backbone and service capability; the Lifelong Learning unit; the Innovation & Strategic Partnerships unit; the Library Support Services unit; and the Office of Communication, Marketing & Outreach.