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Angela Smith was relieved when CAIN (Churches Active in Northside) told her about a new service that allows people to fax forms from library branches to Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services.

Instead of driving downtown, she went three doors down to the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County branch in Northside. There, a librarian made copies of her needed verifications, and faxed them to the department’s 222 E. Central Parkway office.

“My car has got a lot wrong with it,” Smith said. “It’s on its last leg. That, and the cost of parking, made this really helpful to me. It helped me a whole lot.”

Hamilton County JFS began partnering with the public library system in June as part of an effort to improve customer service. Clients can take required paperwork to any of 41 branches located throughout the county during more convenient hours, including evenings and weekends.

Library staff have been trained to handle JFS documents such as applications, rent receipts and pay stubs. They fax the documents to the department’s main building, relieving clients of mailing or taking them downtown.

Within a few weeks, nearly a hundred clients such as Smith had taken advantage of the free service.

“We’re getting faxes from branches throughout the county throughout the day,” said Jim Ashmore, Performance Improvement section chief. “The numbers keep increasing every day. People are using this service in neighborhoods where they live, work and play. It’s been great for them and for us. We expect it will help us reduce waiting room congestion while providing a convenient service to our customers.”

Most often, clients still need to come to the agency for application or reapplication appointments. But they don’t need to make return trips to drop off papers they may have forgotten, or not known they needed.

“It’s typically a pay stub, a rental agreement, utility bills… something needed to verify they qualify for a service,” Ashmore said. “This prevents a need for them to come back downtown.”

JFS, the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati and others brainstormed the idea—and approached library administrators about the concept. The public library accepted, saying it fits in with the organization’s mission of providing its customers with information that improves their lives. The library also handles passport applications and gives out tax forms.

“It’s our hope that by drawing more people into the library they will become more familiar with our many programs and services and value the library as a crucial source of information,” said Kimber L. Fender, executive director of the library.

Ashmore adds: “It just shows how strong of a community we have that the library was willing to step up and provide a community service like this.”

Library employees fax a cover letter with basic information such as the branch location and customer’s name as well as a check list of verification documents ranging from employment verifications to rent receipts. If necessary, they copy the documents for faxing. They give the client a receipt confirming the transaction.

Jeanne Kerth, Performance Improvement administrative assistant, checks a fax machine at 222 E. Central Parkway throughout the day. Kerth makes a copy for her records and delivers the fax to the appropriate staff member. Staff update computer records to show the verifications were received, and call or send a confirmation letter to the client.  

“A fax could have 10 or 11 pages,” said Kerth, pulling papers from the fax machine. “This one has 31.”

Kerth views each fax as a customer, such as Smith, who didn’t need to travel downtown or mail her documents.

“This is definitely working,” Kerth said. “You can tell by the many different branches these are coming from.” 

The first branches to fax in documents
Avondale, Bond Hill, Cheviot, Cleves, Corryville, Covedale, Delhi, Elmwood Place, Forest Park, Green Township, Groesbeck, Loveland, Northside, Norwood, Main, Monfort Heights, Miami Township, Mt. Healthy, Mt. Washington, North Central, Price Hill, Sharonville, Walnut Hills, West End,  Westwood, Wyoming