by Audrey Hall, Library Consultant, State Library of Ohio
 

Perhaps better known as a regional depository for federal documents, the State Library of Ohio is also a depository for state documents. We also share them as the distributor to other libraries. Authority to distribute state publications of general interest was given to the State Library by H.B. 27 in 1957. Continuously, since the depository plan became operational in 1959, regular shipments have been sent to Ohio public and academic libraries, the Ohio Historical Society, the Library of Congress and even a few out of state libraries. The statutory authority is ORC 149.11.

 

Libraries that receive publications of general interest agree to make them accessible to all patrons. They must be kept for five years. After five years, they may remain in the collection, be offered to other libraries or discarded. Ohio documents cover a wide range of topics from sources of current consumer information to annual reports to individual personal details in older publications that genealogists love to find. There is even an engineering - economic feasibility report on building a bridge across Lake Erie to Ontario, Canada!

 

In some cases because of a small print run, agencies are able to send only two copies of a publication to the State Library. One copy is available for borrowing and one remains a reference copy. The State Library does not discard Ohio documents. All publications received are cataloged and included in the OCLC database making them available worldwide. The records are added to the OhioLINK central catalog. Hyper-links to publications with online equivalents are included in the bibliographic records.

 

As the state budget tightens, fewer documents are being produced on paper. But we can provide access to documents that are "born digital." The documents are captured for the Digital Collection, making them permanently accessible even if the agency changes access on its web site. Digital Collection records are on OCLC and can be exported into a library's individual catalog. They are also available through OhioLINK.

 

Distribution of legislative publications was added to the State Library's duties in 1979 by S. 205. The publications include the daily house and senate journals, pamphlet laws, and the Digest of Enactments published by the Legislative Service Commission. Libraries in addition to the depositories for general publications were recruited as legislative depositories to guarantee that one library in each county of the state receive the publications.The statutory authority for legislative depositories is ORC 149.12.

 

All of the recent legislative publications are now available online. Links to them in a library’s catalog fulfills the legislative depository obligation.The State Library is able to quickly respond to requests for older material.

 

State document depository libraries are listed by city on our web site at: http://www.library.ohio.gov/LPD/fed_state_docs/LocateDepository/List
All of the libraries listed receive Ohio legislative publications. An asterisk designates those libraries that also receive agency general publications.

 

For the state depository program to be successful, agencies must provide the State Library with copies of their publications. The Ohio Revised Code authorizes the depository program but does not provide any means for enforcement. Fortunately, most agencies realize the advantage of allowing the State Library to preserve their publications and send paper publications or notify us of electronic publications.

 

Ohio Documents, a listing of distributed and non-distributed publications, is published on our web site quarterly with an annual accumulation.  A list of all publications added to the Digital Collection is updated monthly. The OCLC number is included for those who want to add the publications to their own catalogs.They can be found at http://www.library.ohio.gov/LPD/ohdocs