TRAILS
Treasure State Academic Information and Library Services (TRAILS) is a consortium of 24 academic libraries across Montana. TRAILS provides access 4,000,000+ library items to students, faculty, researchers, & community members.
In Montana, TRAILS (Treasure State Academic Information & Library Services) is a statewide consortium of academic libraries which includes 23 of Montana's institutions - public, private, tribal and community colleges, and the Montana University System, plus the Montana State Library. TRAILS serves over 49,500 students, faculty, researchers and community members, providing access to over 4,000,000 library items.
History
In May 2014, Montana State University Library dean Kenning Arlitsch and University of Montana IT head and library system administrator John Greer proposed a unified content management system for Montana's academic libraries to the university's board of regents. The proposal was accepted unanimously. That year, funding was requested from the Montana Legislature. Although no legislative funding was awarded, the consortium officially launched in 2016 with the aims of increasing efficiency and improving access to resources for the students, researchers, and communities of Montana. By negotiating with vendors for consortium members, TRAILS provides students and faculty with access to journals, databases, and other resources which might not otherwise have been affordable. In addition to sharing resources and negotiating better prices for materials, in 2017 the consortium negotiated the purchase of the Alma cloud-based library-services platform from Ex Libris Ltd which increases efficiency and resource-sharing (allowing users to search 17 libraries in the system simultaneously). TRAILS, with support from the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, has initiated a statewide program for open educational resources (OER) program, such as free online textbooks. The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities praised the Montana State University Library's leadership of the TRAILS program in 2017, and the MSU Library was named the 2018 Library of the Year by the Montana Library Association.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “TRAILS” as treasure State Academic Information and Library Services (TRAILS) is a consortium of 24 academic libraries across Montana. TRAILS provides access 4,000,000+ library items to students, faculty, researchers, & community members. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as treasure State Academic Information and Library Services (TRAILS) is a consortium of 24 academic libraries across Montana. TRAILS provides access 4,000,000+ library items to students, faculty, researchers, & community members. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q55088773. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “TRAILS”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow TRAILS primary sources, TRAILS archive and TRAILS research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “TRAILS”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “TRAILS” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.