State experts
Recognition for deep state-specific knowledge.
The state expert badge recognizes patrons with deep subject-matter knowledge of a single state’s school trust lands. This page explains what the badge is, what is expected of state experts, and how it is granted.
What the badge is
A state expert is a patron who knows one state’s school-trust record well enough that the Library asks them to keep an eye on its accuracy. State experts are typically historians, advocates, lawyers, current or former trust-land agency staff, or long-time observers of a particular state’s policy and litigation.
This is a recognition role, not a privilege role. State experts do not have special permissions in the librarian dashboard. They do not approve corrections or moderate discussions. What they have is a badge on their Library Card with an attribution — for example, State expert: Oregon — that shows visibly when they post a correction, write a review, or take part in a thread about that state. The badge tells other readers: this person has read deeply in this state’s record.
What is expected of state experts
State experts are expected to contribute regularly, in three roughly defined ways:
- Corrections on their state’s pages. When something on the Atlas page, the Counting House table, or the Map Room entry for their state needs fixing, a state expert is among the first the Library hopes will notice and submit a correction.
- Periodic accuracy reviews. Once a year or so, a state expert reads through their state’s pages with fresh eyes and flags what has gone stale or wrong since the last review.
- Occasional discussion participation. When a thread comes up about their state — a question from another patron, a debate about a policy choice — a state expert is often the right person to answer.
None of this is a quota. A state expert who is busy for a year and submits nothing in that year is still a state expert. The badge does not get pulled for inactivity.
How the badge is granted
Two paths. The first is steady contribution: when a patron has been submitting careful corrections on a single state for some months, the head librarian may award the badge with a short note. The second is direct introduction: someone with established expertise — a long-time state Department of Lands staff member, a published historian, a lawyer who has tried trust-land cases — can write through feedback, describe the relevant background, and ask to be considered.
The badge always carries the state attribution — State expert: Oregon, State expert: New Mexico. A patron can hold it for more than one state. The list of states currently covered is at /atlas/.
More on tiers and advancement: /pro/roles/ — the institutional ladder, with the full list of recognition and stewardship paths.
