Students looking for off campus housing may want to check out the 2001 edition of the Landlord Library, available for students today, a month earlier than in previous years. The publication, which rates off-campus landlords and rental companies, was a project created by USG to help students in their search for off campus housing. This is the fourth year for the publication.The library has improved and become more scientific, said Dan Varn, director of this year’s edition.”Every year there has been different changes to the Landlord Library. In the first and second years it was still under development,” Varn said. The first library was based on a non-scientific “rate your landlord out of 10 system.” With time, the Landlord Library has become more sophisticated with a questioning and rating system, Varn said.”This year we got it down to the way we will do it for years to come,” Varn said. One of the biggest changes in the 2001 edition is that the landlords are rated over an entire year. Students who lived in the 43201 and 43202 ZIP code areas last year and also live in those areas this year were asked to answer survey questions rating their 12-month experience with their landlords.In the past, the publication surveyed students on their current landlords. The landlords were rated only on the first three months of the school year with the previous method. According to Varn, about 1,300 students took part in the survey.”The result is actually a continuation of last year’s Landlord Library in a sense. This year’s scores actually all went down compared to last year,” Varn said.Varn said that the reason for the decrease in scores is probably a result of the change in rating methodology.”I think that the honeymoon was over after those three months that we surveyed people,” Varn said. According to Rick Prescott, assistant director for the project, surveying students on their last year’s experiences enabled them to ask questions not asked in the past. A question which asked tenants if they feel that they received a fair amount of their security deposit back is a new addition to the survey.The survey consists of questions covering topics such as; maintenance, cleanliness, repairs, rate comparability and security. In addition, new questions were asked about parking accessibility and if students rented from the same landlord again.Prescott, a sophomore in engineering, said every group on campus was contacted to find volunteers to do the surveys. Five organizations earned $6.50 an hour to conduct the surveys.”I am extremely proud of the organization this year, particularly Rick Prescott and Dan Varn, for producing the Landlord Library in record breaking time. This year the publication will be even more useful for students because it will be out when students are looking for off campus housing,” said Robert “BJ” Schuerger, USG President.This year’s publication has an additional four year comparison graph that shows how each landlord scored, relative to the mean, since the publication’s existence.Over the four years, the landlord ratings have been going down each year. Varn said he expects scores to go up in the future as a result of surveying methods becoming more consistent. “We won’t know the effects of this Landlord Library for two years,” he said.The Student Housing Legal Clinic write-up is another addition to this years Landlord Library. The clinic offers assistance to students who need to discuss legal rights and responsibilities in regard to landlord and tenant issues. “Students really need to know what they have with the Student Housing Legal Clinic,” Prescott said. ” For five bucks you basically have a lawyer.” Prescott added that students would be responsible for court fees if a case goes to court.Varn said he hopes that the Landlord Library will give greater accountability to all landlords. “Some of the landlords do treat their tenants very well, others have to become more accountable,” Varn said.In addition to survey questions and graphs, the library includes “Tenant Tips,” a section that gives students information about what they should know before, during and after they rent. “If I could give students any advice, it would be to read the ‘Tenant Tips,'” Prescott said.Tammy Lusk, office manager for University Village Apartments, said the Landlord Library gives students direction in finding housing and is especially helpful to students who are not from the area. University Village Apartments had an overall score of 8.28, with a margin of error of 0.29. This was the second highest score among large companies. This year 25,000 copies of the Landlord Library were printed, with about 12,200 being mailed to students living off-campus and about 8,100 being delivered to students in the residence halls. The remaining copies will be available in USG racks located around campus and in the USG office in room 201 in the Ohio Union. The Landlord Library is published with funds from the office of Student Affairs.”The Landlord Library will continue to be a cornerstone of the USG,” Schuerger said.