State Library of Oregon

State Library of Oregon


Location	Salem, Oregon
Established	1905
Branches	1
Access and use
Population served	Oregon
Other information
Budget	$7,184,308
Director	Wendy Cornelisen
Employees	44
Website	[1]

The State Library of Oregon in Salem, is the library for the U.S. state of Oregon. The mission of the State Library of Oregon is to provide leadership and resources to continue growing vibrant library services for Oregonians with print disabilities, the Legislature and state government, and all Oregonians through local libraries.

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/3
Views:
2 694
8 258
5 715

Transcription

Captioning provided by Disability Access Services at Oregon State University. Woman: You should introduce yourself first! Ashley Barnes: Okay, so my name is Ashley Barnes. I am a senior here at Oregon State studying English and secondary education, and I am currently serving as the MU President. Welcome to the OSU Valley Library. This is the premier place to study, research, and learn on campus. Why don’t we take a step inside and see what services are provided. All right, so now we are in the circulation area which is where the Reserve Services in the library is housed at, and the great thing about this location is that you can check out laptops. You can reserve study rooms. They also have Kindles that you can check out for two weeks, as well as many other computing needs that you may have as a student. So welcome to the Self-Service Copy Center here at the Valley Library. Here you will find black and white copiers as well as color copiers that you can use if you need to copy documents for your personal life or for your school life. Whatever you need, they will provide that service here, and you can charge it to your OSU account based on your student ID. They also have scanners here if you would like to scan documents and make them into PDF files, as well as e-mail them to yourself so that you have them on file. Welcome to Student Multimedia Services. This is an area in the library that provides a lot student resources, and they can help you print off posters for presentations as well as provide you support in any of your multimedia needs. So we are standing in the Learning Commons of the library. Here you will see there are many computers that students can use while they are on campus. You can just log in with your ONID, and it is really handy if you do not want to bring your laptop to campus or have a desktop at home. Also, in the back, you will see that we have a Collaborative Learning Center which is a great place to go if you need help with your studies. There's tutors available for many of the classes here on campus, and that is a great place to meet and do some group study. Welcome to the OSU Computer Helpdesk. Here, they have a lot of services that can help you with either software updates, antivirus, or any of your computer needs they can try to help you with. So if you have problems and don’t want to go off campus, come here. So we are standing on the third floor, and one of the unique features about this floor is that it has Our Little Village, which is the child daycare center. So student parents who have children can drop their children off here while they go and study for exams or for their classes. And they will also be expanding their services soon to Dixon Recreation Center where student parents can drop off their children there as well to be in childcare while they get some exercise. We also have quiet rooms and study spaces that you can rent out if you wish to have a quieter place to study, if you don’t want to be in the general public where a lot of students are studying, and it can get a little bit noisy. There are also specific levels in the library that are designated quiet floors, and so you need to be mindful of that as well, as if you want a quiet place to study that is probably your best option. Welcome to Java II, if you are feeling a little tired while you are studying, you can come here and get caffeinated and reenergized. One of the great things about the Valley Library is that it is open 24 hours 5 days a week. So, on Sunday morning, they open at 10:00 a.m., and they don’t close until Friday at 10:00 p.m. But one thing that you should know is that after midnight until 7:00 a.m., you need your student ID in order to access the library. On Saturday, they do close, but they are open from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. If the library is not the place for you to study, there is also a list of quiet spaces available on campus on the Dean of Student Life Website.

History

The Territorial Library was first housed in the Territorial Capitol Building that burned in 1855 with most of the library collection lost to the fire.^[1]

The Oregon State Library was established as the Oregon Library Commission in 1905. The original mission of the Library was to establish public and school libraries throughout Oregon. Cornelia Marvin came to Oregon from the Wisconsin Free Library Commission to direct the commission, and later became the first State Librarian.^[2] Soon the State Library was also providing information to state government agencies and collecting and preserving the publications of state agencies.

Prior to the completion of a stand-alone building in 1939, the state library was located in the basement and first floor of the Oregon Supreme Court Building.^[3] This building and the Oregon State Capitol were connected by tunnels used for heating and electricity. The fire that destroyed the capitol in 1935 also caused damage to the library collections, when the water used to fight the fire drained into the basement.^[3]

In 1969 the Library took over Talking Book and Braille library services for blind and print-disabled Oregonians from the Multnomah County Library in Portland.

Operations

Today the State Library provides information services to over 37,000 state government employees, circulates library materials in audio and Braille format to over 5,000 blind and print-disabled Oregonians, and provides grants and assistance to help develop and improve local library services and to foster greater cooperation among all of Oregon's libraries. The library is also a regional depository for the Federal Depository Library Program.^[4]

Since its founding, the State Library has been governed by an independent board. The present State Library Board consists of nine members from throughout the state who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate to serve four-year terms.

Building

The historic State Library Building, located in downtown Salem, was dedicated in 1939. It was the first building to be constructed on what is today known as the Capitol Mall, and was completed only two years after the dedication of the Oregon State Capitol in 1937. The State Library Building was extensively renovated in the 1990s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.^[5]