COLUMBUS, Ohio — Over 40 notaries providing free basic notary service are now on staff at most Columbus Metropolitan Library branches. In May 2024, CML piloted the notary program at five locations.

During the pandemic, Janessa West began to notice a troubling pattern: certifying documents had become extremely difficult, increasing the risk of false identification and fraud—particularly in ...

While notary fees generally don’t make people jump out of bed in the morning, they are vital to the certification and authentication of crucial documents, such as loan papers and wills. Notaries are ...