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Guide to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center

A guide to SCARC services; for additional information, please see our website http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/

Instruction Requests

  • For us to consider your instruction request, please include the following information: course title and number, number of students, desired session date(s), syllabus (drafts welcome), and desired learning objectives. 

  • Issues of space, scheduling, and staffing will be considered for each class request, and requests are not guaranteed to be fulfilled.

  • We are not able to accept instruction requests after:
    • Friday, September 16, 2022 for fall term;
    • Friday, January 6, 2023 for winter term;
    • Friday, March 24, 2023 for spring term.

Teaching Support via Online Resources:

Additionally, SCARC staff have created a number of course-related and topical guides that may help you find sources on a variety of topics, including but not limited to: botany, beer and brewing, early photographic formats, fine press and artists' books, local farming, multicultural and queer communities in Oregon, and travel and tourism. You can see a complete list of SCARC's guides by clicking the hyperlink below.

SCARC's course-related and topical guides

SCARC staff can also provide remote instruction and research support for you and your students. Contact us to explore options!

Events

SCARC is open to hosting on-site, in-person events. If you have an idea for an event, and would like to partner with us, please email us at scarc@oregonstate.edu.

We still want to share our collections with you, and you can engage with them online! We have blogs to suit virtually any interest, from OSU history to rare books, multicultural communities to beer and Linus Pauling. Or, if you’d like to listen to some stories, our oral history collections are second to none.

A list of all our social media accounts is available on our website.

Open House Hours and Self-Guided Tours

We’re excited to announce the addition of Open House hours, which began spring term 2022! Our Open House hours, offered every Wednesday between the hours of 10:00am and 1:00pm, provide visitors the opportunity to drop by our Reading Room on the 5th floor of the Valley Library . One of our outstanding Student Archivists will be on hand to answer general questions about our space and services, and the Linus Pauling Office exhibit will be open for self-guided tours.

In-stacks, “behind the scenes” tours have been discontinued. SCARC is unable to support tours of its Reading Room and other public spaces, though groups are welcome to visit during our Open House hours.

Please note:

  • No appointments will be offered during these open house hours; researchers interested in making an appointment to work with collections in person, or who have questions about the scope of our holdings and the research we can support, should contact us at scarc@oregonstate.edu.

  • The Reading Room is not an open study space. The first floor is a designated silent floor, and the 6th floor is home to the Graduate Student Commons. Study rooms throughout the library can be reserved at the Circulation Desk on the 2nd floor, and the rotunda on the 5th floor is a great place to study.

Please contact us at scarc@oregonstate.edu for more information or with any questions.

Exhibits

Main Exhibit: “Legacy of an Oregonian Photographer: the Chuck Williams Photographic Collection”
Location: SCARC's 5th Floor Exhibit Gallery
Hours: Monday through Friday, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm (subject to change pending staff availability)

Poster for the exhibit "Legacy of an Oregonian Photographer: the Chuck Williams Photographic Collection"


Small Case Exhibit: Our Favorite Things: SCARC Archivists Spotlight Collection Highlights
Location: 5th-floor concourse, just outside SCARC's main doors
Hours: Valley Library hours


5th Floor Exhibit Alcove: 50 Years of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Location: 5th-floor concourse, across the hall from the SCARC's main doors
Hours: Valley Library hours

Student Opportunities

The Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) offers opportunities for students to work with staff and collections. These include paid student assistant positions, paid project-based positions, and internships (paid, or un-paid for credit). We typically do not host volunteers.

Paid Student Assistants

Paid student assistants are employed for multiple terms during the academic year. Generally, these students conduct a wide range of activities in SCARC, though some are hired to support the needs of a specific unit (e.g. the Public Services Unit or Digital Production Unit), or the needs of specific staff (e.g. arranging and describing an archival collection). Typically, students are hired in spring term, and begin work the following fall. These positions are only open to currently enrolled students, both at OSU and non-OSU students.

Paid student assistant opportunities will be announced on the OSU job site (https://jobs.oregonstate.edu), and we share them through our networks, including but not limited to our social media (instagram and twitter) and various campus programs, to recruit applicants.

Paid Project Assistants

Paid, project-based student assistants are usually employed for one to three terms to provide support for a specific project (e.g. Voices of a Warming Planet Oral History Project). Under most circumstances, these positions are only open to students at Oregon State University or other colleges/universities, and are sometimes limited to undergraduate students.

Paid project assistant opportunities will be announced on the OSU job site (https://jobs.oregonstate.edu), and we share them through our networks, including but not limited to our social media (instagram and twitter) and various campus programs, to recruit applicants.

SCARC Interns

SCARC internships are intended for students, both undergraduate and graduate (OSU and non-OSU). They are typically project-based and designed to last for one term (generally winter and/or spring terms), but may run longer depending on the project. They can be organized for credit or experience only. The time commitment required of a given intern will vary based on project, but most are expected to commit 10-12 hours per week for the duration of the internship.

When we have internship opportunities, we share them through our networks, including but not limited to our social media (instagram and twitter) and various campus programs, to recruit applicants.

Please contact scarc@oregonstate.edu if you have any questions. The request will be forwarded to Tiah Edmunson-Morton, SCARC Internship lead.