Instruction in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center

Instructional visits to SCARC are customizable. SCARC faculty and staff are your partners in creating powerful learning experiences with historical materials. Options are offered in three areas: materials, learning activities, and instruction personnel.

Please Note:

• Our instructional spaces are reserved for SCARC materials. We do not offer access to SCARC instruction spaces without a formal request and SCARC involvement. While you are welcome to request to use a specific teaching space for your class, SCARC faculty and staff may recommend or require the use of a different space.
• 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.
• SCARC faculty and staff reserve the right to prioritize instructional activities based on capacity and current circumstances.
• Staff workspaces, including our closed stacks, are not available for public tours.
• If you are designing an assignment using SCARC materials, you must contact us at least one quarter in advance to plan support.

When selecting materials for a class visit, you can select materials yourself before the class session or we can choose materials for you using our deep knowledge of the collections. If you need help navigating our finding aids or the library catalog, we can assist you!

Examples of Materials Selected by SCARC:

• GEO 511: History of Geography ~ Graduate students visit SCARC to learn about Alexander von Humboldt’s scientific and geographic legacy from selections in four categories: his Works, his World, his Influence, and his Legacy. Along with rare editions of his works, materials include contemporary maps, scientific journals, prints, and newspapers. Full-text searching in our SCARC HathiTrust collection enables deeper discovery and engagement with the materials.
• ART 263: Digital Photography ~ Undergraduate students learning digital photography techniques visit SCARC to discover historical photographic processes. SCARC staff combed our photographic holdings to find examples of daguerrotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, stereographs, cartes de visit, cyanotypes, and more for students to interact with. SCARC staff also prepared a LibGuide to Early Photographic Processes in the collections that support this course.

Example of Materials Selected by Teaching Faculty:

• CROP/SOIL/SUS 325: Agricultural and Environmental Predicaments ~ A faculty member requested the use of a specific collection. A SCARC instructor worked with the professor to develop the assignment, including the selection of images for the in-class activity.
• Please note: to select materials on your own, we recommend you consult the materials in-person before making your selections.

Student learning experiences in SCARC take many forms. Your class visit can be a simple broad overview of SCARC's holdings in a particular area, or we can work with you to develop a learning activity using the materials, based on skills or concepts you want your students to learn.

Example of Show and Tell / Overviews:

• HC407: Materials, Art, Culture ~ Undergraduate students visited SCARC to interact with materials showing the history of paper. Selections included cuneiform tablets, papyrus samples, parchment scrolls, vellum manuscripts, and examples of different kinds of paper from the 15th-21st centuries. Selections related directly to course content, and hands-on exploration of all materials was encouraged.

Example of Custom Activities:

• ENG 301: Ways of Reading ~ Undergraduate students visited the Library to analyze materials from the early modern print trade. The analysis activity is based on assigned reading for that session, and students are able to apply and practice the skills of observation and analysis that they have read about for class using original materials.

Example of Individual Student Research

• ENG 217: Reading for Writers ~ Students were given the opportunity to interact with a wide range of artists' books from SCARC's collection and selected a book to study in-depth. Students scheduled research appointments to complete a writing assignment about their selected item.

SCARC teaching faculty welcome leading the session or team teaching with you. You are also welcome to lead the session, however, we may ask for some class time to go over handling and/or access issues.

Examples of Sessions Led by SCARC:

• HSTS 417H: Public Health ~ Undergraduate students visit SCARC to explore health-related materials from the 16th to the 21st centuries in 4 categories: DIY Health; Authority and Trust; Public Good, Public Health; and Safety/Danger. Students select an item and analyze it with guided questions related to course content and background reading. After a class discussion, students use the item to learn a primary source research framework based on the skills of observation, interpretation, inquiry, and connection.

Examples of Team Teaching:

• CROP/SOIL/SUS 325: Agricultural and Environmental Predicaments ~ A faculty member requested the use of a specific collection and collaborated with SCARC faculty to make item selection decisions.
• HST 202H: American History ~ SCARC faculty developed or adapted a series of six lab exercises with teaching faculty to teach primary source literacy skills that were needed for students’ final paper project, including observation, analysis, access, and synthesis skills. SCARC faculty selected the materials, prepared grading rubrics, and conducted each class session with the faculty member.

The Barnard Classroom is a small seminar classroom equipped with tables, a computer and projector, and a document camera. Although primarily for SCARC use, it may be reserved by Valley Library faculty and staff for instructional purposes, Monday through Friday, after Week 2 of the quarter.

This classroom can only be reserved by library faculty and staff; to request use of the room, please email scarc@oregonstate.edu. We require a two week advance notice from library faculty and staff for all classroom requests. The Barnard Classroom is not available as a general student study room space.

No food or drink are allowed in the Barnard Classroom. For instructional purposes, we will base room capacity on the official enrollment listed in the OSU Schedule of Classes; room capacity will not exceed 20 people, and it may not be reserved for classes under 5 people.