Branford Price Millar Library
Encyclopedia
The Branford Price Millar Library is the library
of Portland State University
(PSU) in Portland, Oregon
, United States
. Built in 1968, the academic library
was doubled in size in 1991 and houses over 1 million volumes. The five-story building is located on the school's campus on the South Park Blocks in Downtown Portland
and is the largest academic library in the Portland area.
In August 1989, construction began on an $11 million expansion of the library that doubled the size of the facility. Constructed by Wildish Building Company and designed by architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the expansion added the curved glass wall on the east face of the building providing views of the South Park Blocks
. Paid for by the state of Oregon, the expansion also remodeled the existing structure. The 72000 square feet (6,689 m²) addition was completed in 1991 with a dedication ceremony held on November 3, 1991. At that time, the library contained 850,000 volumes.
In 1992, the library joined a Portland area electronic library network. A former library employee was convicted of embezzling more than $200,000 from the library in 1997. Millar Library was remodeled in 2001 at a cost of $2.8 million to create a learning center, technology upgrades, and new furnishings. Funds came from private donations, the state, and the federal government.
The library launched the Oregon Sustainable Community Digital Library in 2005 to contain land use planning
documents created in Oregon. Until 2007, Millar Library served as the state’s Regional Federal Depository Library when it became one of four libraries sharing the collection.
tree planted on the site in the 1800s. Tan colored bricks are used for the other exterior walls. Inside, the library contains study rooms, a computer lab, offices, and the school’s archives office in addition to the library’s collections. With 194783 square feet (18,095.9 m²) of space, the library is the largest academic library in the Portland metropolitan area
and covers an entire city block
.
of 288,320 items. PSU’s library is a federal depository library
and member of the PORTALS electronic network. The library is also a member of the ORBIS online catalog and lending network
. Other memberships include OCLC
, Coalition for Networked Information
, Northwest Digital Archives
, and Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
among others.
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
of Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
(PSU) in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Built in 1968, the academic library
Academic library
An academic library is a library that is attached to academic institutions above the secondary level, serving the teaching and research needs of students and staff...
was doubled in size in 1991 and houses over 1 million volumes. The five-story building is located on the school's campus on the South Park Blocks in Downtown Portland
Downtown Portland
Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States, is located on the west bank of the Willamette River. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and is where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found....
and is the largest academic library in the Portland area.
History
In 1959, the first PSU library building, Library East, was completed under the presidency of Branford Millar, second president of Portland State College, serving from 1959 to 1968. That library had its 1 millionth visitor in 1962 and was replaced in 1968 with the Branford P. Millar Memorial Library. Portland State was known as Portland State College until 1969.In August 1989, construction began on an $11 million expansion of the library that doubled the size of the facility. Constructed by Wildish Building Company and designed by architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the expansion added the curved glass wall on the east face of the building providing views of the South Park Blocks
South Park Blocks
The South Park Blocks form a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon. The Oregonian has called it Portland's "extended family room", as Pioneer Courthouse Square is known as Portland's "living room"....
. Paid for by the state of Oregon, the expansion also remodeled the existing structure. The 72000 square feet (6,689 m²) addition was completed in 1991 with a dedication ceremony held on November 3, 1991. At that time, the library contained 850,000 volumes.
In 1992, the library joined a Portland area electronic library network. A former library employee was convicted of embezzling more than $200,000 from the library in 1997. Millar Library was remodeled in 2001 at a cost of $2.8 million to create a learning center, technology upgrades, and new furnishings. Funds came from private donations, the state, and the federal government.
The library launched the Oregon Sustainable Community Digital Library in 2005 to contain land use planning
Land use planning
Land-use planning is the term used for a branch of public policy encompassing various disciplines which seek to order and regulate land use in an efficient and ethical way, thus preventing land-use conflicts. Governments use land-use planning to manage the development of land within their...
documents created in Oregon. Until 2007, Millar Library served as the state’s Regional Federal Depository Library when it became one of four libraries sharing the collection.
Building
Branford Price Millar Library is housed in a six-story building on the PSU campus. The building includes a curved exterior wall covered with ceiling to floor windows on the eastern side of the building, wrapping around a copper beechCopper beech
Copper beech may refer to:*An ornamental cultivar of the European Beech, Fagus sylvatica*The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, part of the collection "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"...
tree planted on the site in the 1800s. Tan colored bricks are used for the other exterior walls. Inside, the library contains study rooms, a computer lab, offices, and the school’s archives office in addition to the library’s collections. With 194783 square feet (18,095.9 m²) of space, the library is the largest academic library in the Portland metropolitan area
Portland metropolitan area
The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area , also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S...
and covers an entire city block
City block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
.
Collections
The library has a total of 1,368,635 volumes in its collections and an annual circulationLibrary circulation
Library circulation or library lending comprises the activities around the lending of library books and other material to users of a lending library. A circulation or lending department is one of the key departments of a library....
of 288,320 items. PSU’s library is a federal depository library
Federal depository library
The Federal Depository Library Program is a United States program created to make U.S. federal government publications available to the public at no cost. As of June 2008, there are 1,252 depository libraries in the United States and its territories. A "government publication" is defined in the U.S...
and member of the PORTALS electronic network. The library is also a member of the ORBIS online catalog and lending network
Interlibrary loan
Interlibrary loan is a service whereby a user of one library can borrow books or receive photocopies of documents that are owned by another library...
. Other memberships include OCLC
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
, Coalition for Networked Information
Coalition for Networked Information
The Coalition for Networked Information is an organization whose mission is to promote networked information technology as a way to further the advancement of intellectual collaboration and productivity. It is a joint initiative of the Association of Research Libraries as well as EDUCAUSE...
, Northwest Digital Archives
Northwest Digital Archives
Northwest Digital Archives is an online catalog of descriptive information about the archival collections at various institutions in the Northwestern United States...
, and Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition is an international alliance of academic and research libraries developed by the Association of Research Libraries in 1998 which promotes open access to scholarship. They currently have over 800 institutions in North America, Europe, Japan,...
among others.