It is with great pleasure that we announce the official launch of our new department website! Please find it at http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu and be sure to update your bookmarks away from the old University Archives and Special Collections sites, which will no longer be maintained.
Access to Collections
A project some ten months in the making, the new SCARC website is chock full of new features. Archival materials naturally lie at the heart of what we do and this new site presents at least some mention of all 1,033 (and growing) collections currently under the stewardship of our merged department. And while full description is not yet available for all of that material, we have created at least collection-level EAD records for more than 900 of them.
An example of the alphabetical sort available for all of our collections.
In addition, all of the SCARC collections are accessible in multiple ways. There’s the big list of everything as well as the alphabetical view, with easy access to abstracts and other basic information about a given collection. In addition, our materials are also sortable by theme (university history, natural resources, multicultural archives, history of science and local history) and by the genre(s) of materials held within a specific collection (photographs, sound recordings and oral histories, videos and books).
Digital Resources
Over the years, SCARC has placed great emphasis on developing a robust set of online exhibits and digital libraries, and with the new department website, this huge batch of content is now more accessible than ever. As with one view of our finding aids, SCARC’s digital resources are presented according to collection development theme. Within this context, users will find a neatly organized treasure trove of materials available 24/7. Be it the mammoth Best of OSU Archives digital library or our groundbreaking Flickr Commons presence, our massive Linus Pauling Online portal or the rapidly growing Oregon Multicultural Archives digitization program, the Digital Resources component of our work is now on full display. (we have a bunch of online videos too!)
A glimpse of our new University History Digital Resources portal.
And So Much More…
From our homepage you’ll quickly gain a sense of what we do and what’s new – be it our most recent accessions or latest outreach activities, as reported from various points across our social media hub. You’ll also find quick links to more information on some of our specialty work – the Records Management program perhaps or maybe our Rare Books. Nuts and bolts information is easy to find too, from forms to fees to people who are here to help. Need assistance getting started with your research? We’ve got tutorials and learning curricula for that. Just need to ask a question? Fill out our online form and we’ll get back to you soon.
The SCARC website represents a big step forward for us a merged unit. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be working to refine its effectiveness and add more and more content. As the process plays out, please don’t hesitate to let us know what you think. We’ll look forward to hearing from you!
E.E. Wilson, aka “the bicycle guy.” He shows up a lot on our new website.