In addition to advising the State Librarian, the Board of Libraries is responsible for naming geographic locations including mountains, streams, lakes, and ponds in the State of Vermont (https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/10/009/00152).
To assist in this process, the Board of Libraries created the Geographic Names Policies in 1991. The Board revised this document in 2015 to reflect changes made by the legislature to naming of Transportation Locations, State Buildings, and Areas of Land.
The Board adopted a revised Geographic Names Procedure on August 23, 2022.
Vermont Board of Libraries Geographic Names Procedure (PDF)
To initiate consideration of a new name or a name change of a Vermont geographic location by the Board of Libraries, a geographic naming petition signed by not less than twenty-five interested persons must be submitted to the Board. The Board requires original signatures on paper.
- Geographic Naming Petition form - updated September 1, 2022 (PDF)
- Additional signature pages Geographic Naming Petition - updated September 1, 2022 (PDF)
Use of the updated Geographic Naming Petition form is required for all Geographic Naming requests to be considered by the Board after July 2022.
Because local use and acceptance of a name is important, the Board strongly encourages the Petitioner
to include written support for the proposal with the petition. Written support of the proposal may be
solicited from:
- Federal, State, or local (municipal or county) agencies and governing bodies,
- Native American Tribes,
- Civic organizations, historical societies, libraries,
- Owner(s) of the property on which the geographic feature is located, and
- Others familiar with the geographic feature and the appropriateness of the proposal.
Contact information for the four Abnaki communities recognized by the State of Vermont can be found here: https://vcnaa.vermont.gov/cultural-resources.
Please contact the Vermont Department of Libraries with any questions related to the Geographic Naming Procedure.