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Instruction in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center

1:1 Support

We cannot say it enough - SCARC staff are here to help, and want to work with you to create the archives experience you want for your students. We are committed to providing high-quality reference and research support for students and the OSU community.

Assignments and projects using the collections may require additional visits to our SCARC Reading Room. This research experience is where the skills, concepts, and materials encountered in class come alive in practice. SCARC faculty and staff can provide one on one instruction for finding materials in our collections or navigating searches. We support students by introducing the tools they’ll need to do archival research, and helping them build the skills learned in class sessions. Public Services staff can demonstrate various online portals for special collections and archives, how to “read” a collection guide or a catalog record, and connect you with subject experts in the department as well.

Guest Lectures - Visiting Your Class

While we most often host classes in our spaces, SCARC instructors can also visit your classroom. Beyond offering lessons on how to find primary sources, search library databases, or use digital resources, we can provide hands-on learning opportunities with physical or digital copies of original archival materials, allowing students to engage directly with the sorts of documents they would find in an archival setting.

Please note: For the security and long-term preservation of our materials, use of our collections for instruction purposes takes place within the Valley Library classroom spaces, with a member of the SCARC department present.

Learning Objects

Open Houses

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 10:30am and 1:30pm (summer Open House hours are from 2:00 to 4:00pm on Wednesdays), 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.

Please note: The Linus Pauling Nobel Prize medals have been relocated to the new Student Welcome Center, located in the southwest corner of Reser Stadium. The Welcome Center is open to the public, and the medals are viewable without an appointment during Welcome Center hours (8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday - Friday). For more information, please reach out to Welcome Center staff by email at visit.osu@oregonstate.edu, or by phone at (541) 737-2626.

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.