Ohioana Library Association

About

Collects, promotes, and preserves the work of Ohio writers, musicians, and other artists.

Mission

The mission of the Ohioana Library Association is to: recognize and encourage the creative accomplishments of Ohioans, preserve, and expand a permanent archive of books, sheet music, manuscripts, and other materials by Ohioans and about Ohio, and disseminate information about the work of Ohio writers, musicians, and other artists to researchers, schools, and the general public.

Adopted by the Board of Trustees in July 2002

This mission is accomplished by:


continuing to expand its collection with the addition of new books, music, manuscripts, and biographical information about Ohio authors, composers, and other artists

publishing the Ohioana Quarterly and other educational resources

sponsoring the various Ohioana Awards

hosting special events to recognize local and regional authors

responding to reference requests

assisting other literary/artistic organizations and educational institutions

Products

Ohioana’s current holdings include approximately 45,000 books, 10,000 pieces of sheet music, scrapbooks, and biographical files on more than 23,000 Ohio writers, artists, musicians, and other notable Ohioans. The books are written by Ohioans, or are about Ohio or Ohioans. They include a wide range of literature, fiction, history, biography, poetry, humor, children’s literature, county atlases, and local, church, and family histories. New books are added to the collection daily. This year 1,148 new titles were added to the collection. In January 2000, Ohioana’s holdings began to be added to the State Library of Ohio’s electronic catalog, and in March 2002 they were released to the 90 OhioLINK institutions. This makes information about the collection easily accessible to anyone who has access to the Internet. As an archive, Ohioana has continued to maintain its old paper cards, but only shelf list cards are added for new books.

Many of the books are rare and date back to the 1800s. These, and many newer books, are often unavailable to the public anywhere else. The collection does not circulate, but the public may use the collection on site. Ohioana’s new facility is easily accessible and has adequate parking. It has a state-of-the-art climate-controlled room that dramatically improves Ohioana’s ability to properly store and care for its growing collection. It also has a large, comfortable, well-furnished, well-lit public area where both student groups and individual researchers may use Ohioana’s resources. Usage between February 2001 and July 31, 2001, increased nearly 1,000% compared to the same time period the previous year, and reference requests from remote locations increased more than 50%.

The Association recognizes and encourages the literary and creative accomplishments of Ohioans through nine different Ohioana Awards programs, and by publishing the Ohioana Quarterly. The Awards are presented on Ohioana Day; a celebration held each autumn. Other events held around the state are the Hamilton County Authors Tea, held in cooperation with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, and the Central Ohio Authors Tea, co-sponsored with the Friends of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

The Ohioana Quarterly, published since 1958, highlights the work of Ohio writers, musicians and other artists. It contains reviews of recent books, essays about Ohio’s literary figures, news about Ohio’s literary and arts world, and an annotated list of new books as they are received each quarter by the library. The Association has also published the book Ohio Authors and Their Books, and the Ohioana Ohio Literary Map, as well as other educational resources.

The Ohioana Library is supported through memberships, subscriptions, contributions, and a subsidy from the State of Ohio. Members and subscribers live in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and three European countries.