We want to thank everyone for the supportive messages from students and colleagues at Portland State via social media, chat messages and emails. We also appreciate the support we have received from alumni, librarians and friends in our communities and beyond. It means a lot to us.
The Portland State University Library is more than the Millar building and our print collection. We have 49 library faculty and staff, and over 30 student workers. We provide integral services and access to vital resources that support the teaching, learning, and research activities for all of Portland State and the broader community. Our Special Collections and University Archives is home to rare books and manuscripts and hundreds of boxes of over one hundred years of university and unique community history that we steward in collaboration with our faculty, students and community partners.
The library building has suffered damage, not just to paint, walls, windows, doors, and offices, but also to the fire protection system, other important safety elements, and technology such as staff and lab computers and classroom projectors. We have not yet been able to confirm the condition of our books and archives. It’s going to take awhile to assess the damage and loss, clean up, and get the building safe for staff to enter. It is difficult to know at this time when we will be able to reopen to our community.
We have received many offers to help with cleaning up the building, and have also noted these messages on social media. While we appreciate the generosity of spirit, we probably won’t be in charge of the library cleanup immediately; campus facilities will need to do quite a bit of work to make the building safe. Our first priority is to ensure the safety of the Special Collections and University Archives materials, which are extremely vulnerable at this time. We also hope to establish a service point for circulation and research help elsewhere on campus.
We don’t have any specific fundraisers right now, but we anticipate a lot of need as we restore library spaces for our staff and our students. You are welcome to give to the Library Fund if you would like to help us to recover.
We know that students may be frustrated and have many concerns, especially now at midterms and looking forward to the rest of Spring quarter. Please see our Library Closure FAQs for information about services and resources during this time. The FAQs will be updated as we progress through this.