Salem, Ore - The State Library of Oregon supports government transparency and civic education by ensuring consistent and coordinated permanent public access to information published by Oregon state government.

Meaning members of the public can access the reports state agencies create. In addition to the stacks of paper reports and publications, the State Library has also been building an online collection of these materials. While some are digitized copies of historic materials, others are the born-digital version of our modern era. Recently, the State Library migrated its digital collections to a brand-new platform. More than 160,000 Oregon state government publications are now available, in support of our mission to cultivate, preserve, and deliver library and information services to the people of Oregon.

We invite all to explore the site by visiting https://digitalcollections.library.oregon.gov/

This new platform is fully text searchable, making it easier to find the people or places mentioned within state publications. Additional improvements include linked information across collections and items and improved search options. There are also new storytelling capabilities that will highlight Oregon’s people, places, and events, and the activities of Oregon state government.

In the near future, more components of the State Library’s collection will be available on this new platform, including over 8,000 historic photographs and thousands of federal government publications related to Oregon and other publications concerning the state of Oregon and its culture. Even the contents of the State Library’s card catalogue, the Oregon Index, will be available soon. Consisting of nearly a million index cards, the Oregon Index cross-references decades of Oregon newspaper and magazine articles and information buried in books about Oregon. These citations are an invaluable research tool.

To learn more about the digital collections at the State Library of Oregon, please visit https://digitalcollections.library.oregon.gov/ or contact Elke Bruton, Program Manager for Government Services, at elke.bruton@slo.oregon.gov or 971-375-3509.