Wherever you go at OSU, you find people working on challenging problems, and trying to make the world around us smarter, healthier, more sustainable and more just. At the Oregon State University Libraries and Press, we are driven to create services and spaces that help students, faculty and staff — across all of OSU’s units and colleges — achieve these goals. At OSULP, we believe that our contributions are rooted in the relationships we build. As a library and press, we occupy a unique place in the university, one that allows us to reach across disciplinary boundaries and organizational structures.
OSULP includes the Valley Library in Corvallis, routinely selected by students as the Best Place to Study on Campus, and the Guin Library, the intellectual heart of the Hatfield Marine Science Center campus in Newport. The Special Collections and Archives Research Center houses rare and unique materials, including notable collections in the history of science and technology, cultural and ethnic groups in Oregon, Northwest hops and brewing, natural resources and university history. And our award winning University Press has been publishing exceptional books about the Pacific Northwest since 1961.
In 2018-2019, the OSU Libraries and Press engaged in an OSULP Community Interviewing Project to collect and preserve institutional knowledge about OSULP by gathering the stories of those who work here.
The Northwest Art Collection is a notable collection of more than 140 pieces of contemporary Northwest artwork that is on permanent display throughout the library, including works by past and current OSU art faculty members.
OSU Libraries and Press engages in multiple efforts that demonstrate our commitment to creating a more sustainable world. For example, the Valley Library provides bins for users and staff to sort out compostable and recyclable materials in order to reduce waste going to the landfill.
OSU Press published Gathering Moss, the first book from best-selling author Robin Wall Kimmerer, in 2003 and it remains our best-selling book. As of 2021, it is in its 17th printing and has been translated into a half dozen different languages.
While visiting the Guin Library at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, you might hear the sea lions bark from right outside the front door.
The Guin Library once flooded because seagulls threw seashells into the roof’s drainage system.
