Services for Undergraduate Students: An Overview

On this page, you’ll find a broad overview of library services for undergraduate students, with many links to additional details on other pages.

During the academic year, Watzek is open 24 hours a day, five days a week outside of breaks and holidays. Today’s hours appear at the top right corner of the library website; complete hours may be seen here. Watzek’s electronic resources—including ebooks, articles, and databases—are accessible at any time from any location with a valid college log-in.

Watzek follows the college's lead on COVID-19 protocols. For the most up-to-date information, please visit LC's COVID-19 Ongoing Response.

Eleven study rooms are available and may be booked in advance.

Printable floor maps show the layout of the two floors of Watzek Library, with call number ranges indicated. “Owl Zones,” inspired by the color-themed rooms at Powell’s Books, are also shown.

Covered beverages are allowed in the library, and food may be eaten in the atrium.

A limited number of lockers are available to rent for the semester.

A prayer area is on the main floor behind the service desk area. Please ask at the service desk for guidance.

A variety of library services are available to patrons approved for accommodations through the Office of Student Accessibility.

Information about computers, networking, and printing may be found here. Scanners and copiers are also available in the library.

Laptops and external CD/DVD drives are available to be checked out at the service desk.

We make every effort to help you get access to required course texts through our course reserves program. Books and media "on reserve" are available for short-term loans, usually three hours. You can browse current reserve lists by course or by instructor.

Books and media from Watzek that are not on reserve may be borrowed for six weeks. Items may be renewed online through your account in Primo, the library’s catalog. Full details about borrowing, including loan periods for interlibrary loan items and overdue fines, may be seen here.

Primo is the tool that allows you to search for Watzek’s print books and ebooks, media (including streaming film and music), and articles. Short videos (mostly about two minutes) show the process of finding books; requesting books through our regional consortium; finding articles; requesting articles when the full text is not immediately available; and renewing items through your Primo account.

When the resources you're looking for aren't available through the Watzek collection, we can help you get them. Through Primo, you can request physical items from other academic libraries in our regional consortium; that service is called Summit. Summit books may be borrowed for six weeks, and are often eligible for renewal. Interlibrary loan, a similar service, makes it possible to request articles that we don't have immediate access to, as well as books and media not available through Summit.

Watzek welcomes your suggestions for items to add to the collection.

Watzek employs several dozen students each year.

Senior Projects are collected in a searchable database.

Suggest a purchase for the library's collection.

Watzek Library's Art Committee welcomes applications to display art within the library.

Watzek is ready to support you at every stage of your research.

For immediate help, ask at the library service desk, the same place to go to check out books and borrow reserves. Immediate help over chat is also available for much of the day: if you see the orange “Chat” button at the bottom of the library website, someone is ready to respond to your question. Questions may be emailed to librarian@lclark.edu, and library staff may also be reached at 503-768-7270.

Every department and program at the college has its own librarian; for course- or discipline-specific questions, that person is often the best point of contact. You can email the librarian with your question or set up an appointment to meet one-on-one, usually for half an hour. If you aren’t sure who to talk to but would like to have a consultation, fill out a general form and let us figure out who to connect you with.

There is a librarian corresponding to every section of Words and Numbers, and first-year students are encouraged to contact that person for any questions about using the library.

Watzek subscribes to over 200 databases, ranging from multi-subject full-text archives to specialized disciplinary indexes, historical newspaper archives, and streaming media collections. Research guides corresponding to college departments and programs can help you navigate the resources most pertinent for any particular subject.

Watzek Library’s Special Collections and Archives possess extensive research collections including a rare books and manuscripts library, literary collections including the William Stafford archives, early manuscripts, and historical collections. The historical collections include extensive holdings on the World War II Civilian Public Service, pacifism, women’s suffrage, and one of the world’s most complete collections of printed materials on the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Special Collections collaborates with classes in a number of departments; materials may also be viewed by appointment.

Digital and Data Services consults with students on coding projects, runs a high performance computing cluster, and offers access to tools for data science computing, among other services.