The Valley Library, in the center of campus, offers an environment conducive to individual study and collaborative work. Group study rooms, quiet reading areas, and both wireless and networked connections for laptop computers are featured. Library users can access hundreds of research databases and thousands of online journals from workstations in the Learning Commons on the library’s main floor, and from anywhere outside the library through the online service. OSU faculty and students can also access the majority of these resources throughout the OSU campus and from any off-campus computer. The workstations include office applications software and e-mail access. Adjacent to the Learning Commons is the Collaborative Learning Center, which provides tutoring and one-on-one assistance by Campus Career Services; the Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Math departments; the Writing Center; and the library. A notable collection of contemporary Northwest artwork is on display throughout the library.
The Libraries have described, organized, and digitized thousands of documents, photographs, maps and data to make them more widely accessible for researchers, students, and the general public. The University Archives, housed on the third floor, maintains extensive records, manuscripts and photographs pertaining to the history of OSU. Special Collections, on the fifth floor of The Valley Library, houses a number of archival and book collections, most of which focus on the history of twentieth-century science and technology; its primary mission is to preserve and provide access to the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers.
OSU Libraries extends its services and resources to the campus and off-campus community in a variety of ways. Our collections can be accessed online and through mobile devices. The Valley Library hours are being extended 24×5 through a pilot project allowing OSU students and faculty access to collections as well as computers. The library is in the process of upgrading its wireless access throughout the building. Finally, as we move away from print collections to electronic ones, we are repurposing space to increase collaborative study areas.
Since June 2007, the OSU Press has been a department of the OSU Libraries housed at The Valley Library. The Press supports the OSU Strategic Plan through its publication of scholarly and general interest books in the forestry, natural resources management and natural history.
For help identifying and locating library materials and other research assistance, ask at the Reference Desk in the Learning Commons, send an e-mail, or chat online using instant messaging. Students may also make an appointment with a librarian for assistance with library research and class assignments. View a list of librarians by subject.