State Library Building with centennial banners in Spring 2005
The State Library of Oregon was founded as an independent State agency in 1905 and has been serving state government, libraries and the residents of Oregon since its inception. The State Library is located on Kalapuyan homelands in what is now known as Salem, Oregon. The current mission of the SLO is threefold: “The State Library provides leadership and resources to continue growing vibrant library services for Oregonians with print disabilities, the Legislature and state government, and all Oregonians through local libraries.”
The Government Information and Library Services division of the State Library provides library services for state government and oversight of all collections at the library (except the specialized materials for print-disabled Oregonians, managed by the Talking Book and Braille Library division). As Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 357.005 explains, the State Library is to “Maintain and develop appropriate collections of library materials . . . to meet the reference and research needs of the Legislative Assembly and of the state government . . .”
While the focus of State Library of Oregon collections is to serve the library needs of state employees and officials, the general public have always had access to our collections. Anyone may access physical library collections of the State Library in Salem, via inter-library loan from their local library, or access the State Library’s Digital Collections online.