The Ohio Supreme Court joins libraries nationwide in celebrating the many ways libraries lead their communities through programs and expertise.

National Library Week is a celebration of the life-changing work of libraries, librarians, and library staff in leading their communities to learning and discovering.

Erin Waltz is a librarian for the Court’s Law Library.

“Here we support our court community, the bench and the bar of the state of Ohio,” Waltz said. “We get to talk about all the fantastic services we offer for attorneys and judges across the state, especially here at the Supreme Court.”

The staff focuses on research for the justices and offers judges all over Ohio background for the cases they consider.

On display this week in the Supreme Court’s library is the 50th anniversary of the Modern Courts Amendment. The people of Ohio passed it May 7, 1968, by an overwhelming margin, approximately 72 percent. It was the first major revision to Article IV of the Ohio Constitution governing the judicial branch since the Ohio Constitution of 1851.

“The Modern Courts Amendment made the judiciary what it is today,” Waltz said. “It allowed the chief justice to appoint judges to serve on other courts and to help balance the workload if someone retires or resigns. It allowed our justices to create the rules of superintendence for our courts.  It helped not to unify the court system but to make it even across the state.”

It also allowed the Court to declare a law unconstitutional with a simple majority, renamed Court judges “justices,” added a mandatory retirement age for judges, and gave the Court rulemaking powers. 

National Library Week goes from April 8-14.