This study consists of a historical descriptive exploration on the attention given over the past twenty years by state coordinating agencies of higher education to academic libraries in tenns of (1) funding and funding fonnulas and (2) statewide library networks and other statewide cooperative programs. A mailed survey was conducted in fifteen states, representing all regions of the United States, and forty-five interviews were conducted in eight states. Several factors were identified that appear to be related to the perceived success in the interaction of the state coordinating agencies and their respective academic libraries, and a theory concerning that interaction is advanced.