The Indiana State Library develops and provides library services to state government, its branches, its departments and its officials and employees. It provides to the individual citizens of the state those specialized library services not generally appropriate, economical or available in other libraries of the state. It encourages and supports the development of the library profession, and it strengthens services of all types of publicly and privately supported special, school, academic, and public libraries.

Through its history, the Indiana State Library has developed strong collections in the fields of Indiana history and culture, Indiana state government and United States government publications, Indiana newspapers, genealogy and family history resources on Indiana and the eastern United States, Braille, large print, and books on tape for the visually impaired, library science, and American history, politics, and economics. Its collections in these areas support research by state agency employees, scholars, genealogists, librarians, students, Indiana residents who are blind or physically challenged, and the general public. The Library Development Office works to improve and support the libraries of Indiana through assistance, training, and supervising the distribution of state and federal funds.