Welcome to the OSU Libraries News and Events page!

A Message from the Dean of Libraries

We are well into the rainy season. There is something about looking out on a cold and damp world from inside a warm and cozy library that puts me in an introspective mood. This Fall term has been invigorating. The library has been full during quiet times and full to bursting during busy times. And there is something in the air that is more than the numbers. The students are coming to our events and are excited about our programs, both academic and social. Last year, I could honestly say that the students were back in this library. This year, I can say that the study groups are back. The social activities are back. The energy in the building is productive, collaborative and inspiring. 

We have gone through so much change in the last few years that it is easy to think of change only as a challenge — as something that needs to be managed or survived. This term has been a good reminder to me that change is more complicated than that. Every group of students that comes to OSU brings a different set of experiences with them, and those experiences shape how they interact with their professors, with the library and with each other. Every year I get the chance to see the world from their perspective and learn new things. That’s one of the great joys of working in the library, and of being part of the OSU community. 

Anne-Marie Deitering
Delpha and Donald Campbell Dean of Libraries

I Lived to Tell the World Live

A memorable evening of music and stories honoring Oregon survivors of genocides and atrocities of war takes place at PRAx on February 1. Inspired by the book I Lived to Tell the World, co-published by OSU Press and Portland-based nonprofit The Immigrant Story, the event features survivors of genocides from Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, and Syria presenting remarkable first-person tales of fortitude, resilience, and hope in the face of unimaginable challenges. They will recount the arduous journeys that brought them to Oregon and the courageous ways they built their homes and lives here.

The evening begins with a pre-show PRAxPrelude at 6 p.m. in the Toomey Lobby featuring a talk with The Immigrant Story’s founder Sankar Raman and a book signing with journalist Elizabeth Mehren, author of I Lived to Tell the World. The evening’s performance begins at 7 p.m. Advance tickets are available from PRAx.

A companion exhibit opens at PRAx on January 27. Through art, personal experience, and scholarship, visitors will explore the idea of using personal narratives to tell history. A panel discussion at 4 p.m. brings together Elizabeth Mehren; Saron Khut, speaker and genocide survivor; and Katherine Hubler, OSU historian and editor of Listening to Survivors: Four Decades of Holocaust Memorial Week at Oregon State University.

Corvallis-Benton County Public Library will also host moderated book club conversations about I Lived to Tell the World on January 18 and 25, from 2-3 p.m. Copies of the book will be available to check out from the 2nd floor reference desk, while supplies last, beginning Tuesday, December 17th.

The panel discussion and book club conversations are sponsored by the OSU Center for the Humanities.

 

Piloting a Library Pop-Up to Better Serve OSU-Cascades

While most OSU-Cascades services and functions occur on main campus, there is an additional Cascades building under a mile away. Known as the Graduate Research Center, or GRC, this building is home to graduate programs, faculty offices, the student equity lounge, as well as a handful of undergraduate classes each term. Despite being close to main campus as the crow flies, many commuter students do not find themselves back on main campus, where the library is located, especially for those who’s classes take place primarily at the GRC.

As April Witteveen, Library Director of OSU-Cascades Library, continues working to increase awareness of both the campus library and OSU library services as  a whole, she wanted to bring a library presence to the GRC. She began this by brainstorming during the summer of 2024, and felt that a staffed library pop-up could be an interesting pilot project. As the only librarian working at Cascades, April would need to investigate the possibilities of having library student workers running the pop-up.

Library Dean Anne Marie Deitering previously shared information about the Summers Innovative Student Worker fund, an endowment meant to support peer learning and career development for student workers in the library system. April and Anne Marie discussed if this fund could apply to a new student position at Cascades, specifically for staffing the pop-up; since the pop-up requires significant independent work, along with assessment of services and engagement, the funding source was a great fit.

April feels lucky to have Riley, a Hospitality Management student, working at the library, who was offered the opportunity to be the first pop-up staff person. April and Riley worked out what would be the standard kit for this outreach program and settled on bringing a variety of library materials (books, hobby kits, equipment, etc) along with library swag and information, and a laptop to access the library website and circulation software. Riley has been working at the GRC pop-up for 12 hours a week and has not only circulated library materials but has great conversations with OSU faculty, staff, and engages regularly with many passing students. She is keeping a log to track observations and considerations as the OSU-Cascades Library move through this pilot.

April and Riley will continue the GRC pop-up for the rest of the academic year and then assess the program. As the OSU-Cascades campus continues to grow, outreach like this pop-up and other remote services will all support the mission of the Cascades library and all of OSULP.

 

Article written by April Witteveen & adapted by Robin Weis

OSULP Welcomes New Employees

Oregon State University Libraries and Press is proud to welcome the following new employees: Feelomain Maduma, Morgan McKeehan, and Karla Jurgemeyer.

 

  • Feelomain Maduma (LT3 in RAS- Collection Maintenance Specialist)Feelomain comes to us from the Bulawayo Public Library in Zimbabwe, where she was an Assistant Librarian. While there, she worked on collection development, cataloging, circulation desk management, and provided information literacy skills training, to name a few. Feelomain also brings Human Resources and front-desk administration experience from her time working with medical facilities both in Zimbabwe, and here in Portland, Oregon. Feelomain will work closely with the Collection Maintenance and Resource Sharing teams.

 

  • Morgan McKeehan (FRA in LIT- Digital Repository Metadata Specialist)Morgan comes to us from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she serves as the Digital Collections Specialist. She has a depth of experience working with complex metadata workflows in digital library systems, and a commitment to improving inclusive description practices. Morgan will work closely with Cara Key, Sarah Imholt, Kevin Jones, and LIT developers, as well as with our Oregon Digital partners at the University of Oregon. 
     
  • Karla Jurgemeyer (FRA in RAS- Monographs and Special Collections Cataloger)Karla comes to OSU from St. Olaf College in Minnesota with 12 years of experience in cataloging. At St. Olaf, her specialty was cataloging monographs for special collections. Karla has an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Within the Cataloging & Government Documents Unit, Karla will focus on monograph projects and new acquisitions (print and electronic) and SCARC cataloging.

 

Welcoming New OSULP Employees

Oregon State University Libraries and Press is pleased to announce the following new employees: David Irvin, Director of the Marilyn Potts Guin Library, Shoshana Patocka, Faculty Research Assistant at the Valley Library, and Katherine White, OSU Press Marketing Director.

We'll soon announce other new employees as they join us at OSULP. 

Guin Library Supports Marine Science Day

Guin Library generously helped prepare for Marine Science Day by helping the planning committee and coordinating the dispersal of MSD posters and bookmarks through library couriers: Summit, Lincoln County Library, and the Lincoln County School District. This innovative idea saved the committee hundreds of dollars!

Not only was Guin instrumental in providing this behind-the-scenes assistance, the library also worked to ensure attendees of Marine Science Day felt welcome by adding bilingual English/Spanish signage for their self-checkout, children’s puzzles, and games collections.
The library had around 115 visitors during MSD and plenty of places for them to enjoy with Reading Nooks, book displays, a new children’s play area, and much more.

Guin Library Supports Marine Science Day

Guin Library generously helped prepare for Marine Science Day by helping the planning committee and coordinating the dispersal of MSD posters and bookmarks through library couriers: Summit, Lincoln County Library, and the Lincoln County School District. This innovative idea saved the committee hundreds of dollars!

Not only was Guin instrumental in providing this behind-the-scenes assistance, the library also worked to ensure attendees of Marine Science Day felt welcome by adding bilingual English/Spanish signage for their self-checkout, children’s puzzles, and games collections.
The library had around 115 visitors during MSD and plenty of places for them to enjoy with Reading Nooks, book displays, a new children’s play area, and much more.

Guin Library Improves Course Reserves

Guin Library has been hard at work to improve the lives of OSU students by adding new editions, extra copies of popular titles, and adding laminated field ID guides! These great improvements emerged from a collaboration between Guin and Valley librarians.

Guin Library Improves Course Reserves

Guin Library has been hard at work to improve the lives of OSU students by adding new editions, extra copies of popular titles, and adding laminated field ID guides! These great improvements emerged from a collaboration between Guin and Valley librarians.

Making the Unseen Visible, Press Authors Visit SCARC

Professor of History, Jacob Hamblin and History Senior Instructor, Linda Richards led a conversation on their new book Making the Unseen Visible: Science and the Contested Histories of Radiation Exposure on Wednesday, May 15th.

Hamblin and Richards implored participants to engage with original primary sources on radiation exposure from the nuclear history collections in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center Reading Room, located in the fifth floor of the Valley Library.

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