Over the past year the State Library has been scheduling visits with legislative offices as part of our goal to increase awareness about our programs and services and library services in general.  State Librarian Jo Budler has joined me on several of these visits and has offered valuable support and encouragement on the rest.  It has been a sometimes challenging and always interesting and rewarding experience. 

So how is this goal accomplished?  Well it starts with reminding legislators that we are the library for State Government and as such we offer research help from professional librarians on topics of interest to them.  It has been encouraging to see legislators take advantage of our research capabilities once they are reminded of them.  After the initial reminder I offer some more details about us like our status as the full regional depository for state and federal documents, our participation in the OhioLINK consortium and the access that brings to thousands of books and materials around the state as well as thousands of online databases; the specialized training we can offer through online resources and finally our centrally located and convenient meeting room space which has been as popular with the State Government community as many public library meeting room spaces are to their communities.

After informing them of the specific services the state library offers them as a library I move on to the services we help provide on a statewide basis that benefit their constituents.  Those include the Know-It-Now 24/7 online reference service, access to the core online database like Learning Express Library; library services to the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the administration of Federal LSTA funds to libraries; coordination of a Statewide Resource Sharing system, the Ohio E-Book project; Ohio Ready to Read; SEO’s mobile training lab and finally the professional development and consulting services we offer Ohio libraries.  That whole message is typically delivered (with the help of bullet points on a nicely designed double sided information sheet) in 15 to 20 minutes. 

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Having visited over 80 of the 132 legislative offices I’m glad to report that overall the message has been well received.  Many of the Legislative Aides are familiar with the OhioLINK system since many of them have just recently graduated from an Ohio college or university.  They are often surprised and happy to hear that they can continue to access those great resources as a state employee.  They have also been happy to learn about the statewide services being offered by libraries and have even reported on some of those services in their own newsletters back to the district. 

I‘ve heard nothing but good things about Ohio libraries during these visits.  Many legislators have made positive comments about and demonstrated pride for their local libraries.  One legislator even called their local public library during our meeting, just to stay in touch.  So remember that your legislators want to keep in touch with you and they are anxious to hear about the good things being done for their constituents. As libraries we can offer them good news about serving their communities back home.  The important thing is to make that contact whether it’s when you’re in Columbus or more importantly when they are in the district.  So drop them a line, they’ll be glad to hear from you.  In the meantime, I’ve got some appointments to schedule.

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