We are a state agency that serves state government, all types of libraries and residents. The vision of the State Library of Ohio is a Smarter Ohio where every Ohioan can access the necessary resources to be engaged citizens, excel at their jobs, participate in the workforce, and pursue their passions and interests.
Our Mission
The State Library of Ohio ensures a smarter Ohio by managing the delivery of services through three channels:
- Directly, by building and managing quality collections and providing hands-on service to state government
- Cooperatively, through collaborative efforts and information sharing networks within the library community
- Virtually, through online and on-the-go access to expert assistance, digitized resources, and a vast selection of electronic materials
Services to State Government
- Provides access to books, print and online journals, magazines, newspapers and eBooks, and resources and materials in the State Library and OhioLINK catalogs.
- Provides services to borrow materials from other libraries, delivery and pick-up of library materials to offices, meeting space with video conferencing capability, and free parking.
- Provides work-related research and reference services to state legislators and state employees.
- Provides work-related library use assistance, research help and reference services, and online topic and how-to guides.
- Partners with state agencies to help residents access their government services through public libraries.
- Provides interlibrary loan services.
- Serves as Ohio’s only full regional depository for federal documents and the depository for Ohio state agency documents.
Services to Ohio Libraries
- Assists in developing programs for staff and customers.
- Assists in strategic and facilities planning.
- Administers the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant program. Under LSTA several competitive grant programs are administered including: Guiding Ohio Online, Celebrating Ohio Book Awards and Authors, and Summer Library Programs.
- Coordinates the statewide delivery network.
- Coordinates the Ohio Digital Library.
- Collects and makes available statistics about Ohio public libraries for analysis, long range planning and comparison.
- Leads collaboration and partnership with Libraries Connect Ohio—to ensure all Ohioans continue to have access to high quality, relevant, and reliable online resources and publications, at no cost to libraries, schools, universities, and residents.
- Supports the Serving Every Ohioan (SEO) consortium of 95 library systems at more than 241 locations throughout 49 counties across Ohio through the SEO Service Center. The SEO Service Center is a branch of the State Library located in Caldwell.
Specialized Services to Ohio Residents
- Answers reference, research, and general “How do I find” questions.
- Collaborates with the Center for Outreach Services located at the Ohio School for the Deaf to provide access to a collection of Deafness and interpreting-related materials to all Ohioans.
- Contributes funding to the Ohio Web Library—online resources and publications available to all Ohioans through public, university, special and school libraries.
- Coordinates the Ohio Talking Book program for Ohio’s blind and print disabled residents including children and veterans of war.
- Manages a unique collection of library materials which may be borrowed by the public on a walk-in basis. Collections include government and business documents, and management, education, health and criminal justice books and materials.
- Provides access to current and historical state and federal government documents (print & digital), and access to borrowing eBooks, DVDs, audio books, and other materials from OhioLINK and Search Ohio member libraries.
- Provides access to subscription-based library databases
- Provides technology skills training through local libraries and the SEO )Serving Every Ohioan) On Demand Technology Training program.
- Provides services to borrow materials from other libraries, delivery and pick-up of library materials to offices, meeting space with video conferencing capability, and free parking.
About Our Collection
Patrons use our collection to research information about congressional hearings and reports, U.S. and State of Ohio legislative history, statistics, facts about the state of Ohio, geological information, military rosters, state institutional and agency reports, census data, and more.
The State Library is the only regional federal depository in Ohio and is also a depository for state information.
We also carry daily newspapers, journals, and magazines. There are some computers available for public use of library resources.
When visiting the library you will find:
- Federal documents (e.g. Congressional Record, House and Senate Journals, Presidential Papers, U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, Census reports, U.S. Supreme Court decisions)
- Ohio Revised Code, Ohio Administrative Code, Ohio Supreme Court decisions
- State of Ohio documents (reports and other materials produced by state agencies and elected officials for the general public)
- Maps, including United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographical maps
- Military rosters, with a focus on Ohio soldiers and sailors
- Reference materials (e.g. directories, data reports, statistical sources)
- Special materials related to State Library services such as a Choose to Read Ohio collection, the Floyd Dickman Children’s Literature collection and Floyd’s Pick book award collection.
- A Deafness and Outreach Collection targeted toward interpreters, American Sign Language students, parents and professionals working within the deaf community.
Publications and Promotion
Contact Us
Visit our Contact Us page to learn how you can access us via phone, email or chat, as well as directions to the library and hours of operation.