The System provides funding and other services to public, school, and academic libraries in fourteen of the fifteen counties of Southeast Kansas, specifically Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk, Greenwood, Labette, Linn, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson, and Woodson. Coffey County is a non-taxing county. 

Kansas regional library systems were established under Kansas Law (K.S.A. 75-2547, K.S.A. 75-2548) in 1965 for two basic purposes: to improve library services where it already existed and to extend library service to the unserved. The initial formation of the Systems was financed by grant funds from the federal Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA). Current financial support is maintained through a mill levy on rural property and State Aid.

The Southeast Kansas Library System provides professional consulting and continuing education to train and advise member library personnel and trustees. We support resource sharing with courier support, interlibrary loan services, technical services and original cataloging support, and with the SEKnFind Shared catalog. We participate and support the annual statewide children’s summer library program and provide access to the Talking Books program.