The SDSL is a division of the Department of Education and is governed by the seven-member South Dakota State Library Board.

[1] SDSL manages the Braille and Talking Book Library (est.

1968), provides a wide variety of online research and educational resources, and provide reference and research for state agencies.

[5] SDSL was first housed in the office of the Department of History in the State Capitol in the early 1900s.

[5] In 1957 it had outgrown that space and moved into a grocery warehouse.