Oregon Poetry Collection

In 2007, the Oregon State Library and the Oregon Poetry Association joined together to develop the Oregon Poetry Collection. Publications in this special collection are written by Oregon poets, past and present, or deal substantially with Oregon subject matter. Its purpose is to provide a single, increasingly comprehensive collection of works by Oregon poets and to make these works accessible to all Oregonians.

Except for one grant-funded purchase, all the books in the Oregon Poetry Collection have been donated. Oregon poets, publishers and aficionados of Oregon poetry are encouraged to donate two copies of each title, one for circulation and one for permanent preservation.

The collection is dedicated to archiving such books in a non-circulating collection, as well as making them available for general circulation. Once housed at the State of Oregon Library, it is now at the Knight Library, the collaborator with The Oregon Poetry Association in directing, growing, and publicizing these valuable holdings.

To contribute to the collection:  

Send two copies to:

Jeff Staiger

Knight Library

University of Oregon

1501 Kincaid Street

Eugene, Oregon  97403-1299

Attention: Oregon Poetry Collection   (include a note to indicate it is an OPC donation)

Or deliver to The Oregon Poetry Collection box at the next OPA Conference.

The Knight Library sends acknowledgments of receipt of poetry books to donors, and the OPA maintains a list of recent donations at its website.

To access the Oregon Poetry Collection at The University of Oregon:

OPC titles are catalogued in the UO Knight Library Catalog.  Ideally, there are two copies of each item in the collection: a non-circulating copy currently housed in the MacKinnon room on the first floor of the library, and a circulating copy that is part of the library’s general collection and available for check-out.  If there is only one copy, it does not circulate, yet it can be viewed by anybody who requests to do so through the library’s Special Collections Department.

Go to “LibrarySearch ” to browse or locate items in the collection:

  • In the search box on the library’s homepage, enter keyword: “Oregon Poetry Collection.”
  • In the pull-down menu on the right, select: “UO Libraries” and click the icon of the small magnifying glass.
  • On the intervening sign-in screen, select “continue as guest” (unless you are a current member of the UO academic community).
  • In the “sort by” pull-down menu to the right, you can arrange the results by date, title, or author.

You can also search by author or title from the main search box.

Any Oregonian with a public library card and ID can establish a record at the University Library to check out OPC titles that circulate, as well as other materials.

See some recently donated books

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