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By Debbie Tavenner, Library Administrator The Ohio Legislative Service Commission, the research and bill drafting agency for the Ohio General Assembly, organized its library in 1953. It consisted of six or seven shelves of books in an area known as the "crows’ nest" that had been created above the second floor of the northeast side of the State House.[1] Currently, the library is located on the ninth floor of the Riffe Center and has windows. The agency hired a professional librarian in 1969. The library maintains a collection for and offers library services to members of the General Assembly, its staff, and the staff of the Legislative Service Commission. A major part of the collection includes microfilm of versions of bills and of legislative documents, such as bill analyses and fiscal notes. Staff of the Legislative Information Office, a unit under the supervision of the library, answers calls to the toll-free line (800-282-0253) established by the Legislature for citizens to receive information about a bill's status, committee and session schedules, and to leave messages for their legislators. A three-member library staff performs all the functions of document preservation, indexing internal documents, and cataloging without outside assistance. Two staff members work in the Legislative Information Office. The library provides very limited services to other branches of state government. The library is not open to the public for research. The most common types of limited assistance to other agencies and libraries include guidance in locating legislative documents, information about legislators who served the Ohio General Assembly, and providing copies of items unique to the collection. Kelly Pickett, LSC Assistant Librarian, prepared Legislative Information Sources Available to the Public to guide libraries and citizens with questions about legislative documents. Download PDF to print this article. A list of upcoming themes for The News is available on the Contribute to the News page. Follow the State Library on the Web
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