At the urging of citizens interested in quality county-wide library service, the General Assembly passed legislation in 1929 establishing the State Public Library Association and a State Library Board composed of five citizens. In the depths of the Great Depression, no funds were appropriated for the library extension agency, but grants from the South Carolina Library Association and the Rosenwald Foundation enabled the State Library Board to employ a field agent from 1929 to 1932 to assist communities interested in the development of public library service.

The first statewide library program was carried out under the Works Project Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1943. The WPA's major objective was to provide each county of the state with some measure of area-wide public library service. The WPA library program helped establish library service in some areas and enhanced existing libraries' operations in others. The WPA program made possible the establishment of bookmobile service in 23 counties formerly without rural library service. At its demise in 1943, the WPA had been successful in creating public library service in some form in all counties.

The State Library Board received its first appropriation of $3,000 in 1943 and inherited the assets of the WPA. The State Library Board initiated its program with emphasis on state aid to public libraries and a goal of statewide public library service. County or regional libraries were established in all 46 counties. The pattern of unified library systems, each legally established and governed by a single library board, made possible a good level of service by eliminating expensive duplication and overhead and by sharing resources and personnel.

When the federal Library Services Act was passed in 1956, the State Library Board, by executive order of the Governor, was charged with administering and implementing within the state the library programs authorized in the Act. Through this Act, the agency's functions were expanded to include service to the blind and physically handicapped, development of library service in state institutions, and interlibrary cooperation.

In 1969, as the result of action by the General Assembly, the State Library Board was redesignated as the South Carolina State Library and assumed responsibility for public library development, library service for state institutions, service for the blind and physically handicapped, and library service to state government agencies. The Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a department of the State Library, was established in 1973. In 1985, an act was passed providing for the recodification of the State Library's legislation. The new legislation reauthorized all functions of the State Library and consolidated a variety of authorizations found in state and federal laws and regulations, executive orders and budget provisos.

Directors

• Estellene P. Walker, 1946-1979
• Betty E. Callaham, 1979-1990
• James B. Johnson, Jr., 1990-2005
• Patti Butcher, 2005-2006
• David Goble, 2006-Present