About

Welcome

The library is the intellectual hub of campus, offering both a welcoming physical space and a robust virtual presence with access to digital content and research tools. The library building is a second home for students as a place to study, collaborate, and recharge in a comfortable, supportive environment. 

The Clark Library also manages the Digital Lab and University Archives & Artifacts.

Visit the Library

Plan your visit by checking building hours, viewing the interactive floor map, and learning about accessibility for users with disabilities. All library users are expected to follow the Code of Conduct and other library policies.

The library is open to the public during limited hours. Visitor parking is available in the main parking lot.

See services for alumni & visitors

Mission

The Clark Library serves the University of Portland community as a dynamic teaching library. The library accomplishes its mission through interactive instruction, by acquiring and organizing multi-format collections that support the curriculum, and by facilitating access to resources in the Clark Library and beyond.

Ethical and Inclusive Practices

The Clark Library is committed to providing equitable access to information, fostering intellectual freedom, and creating a welcoming environment where all members of the University community can learn, discover, and belong.

As librarians and educators, we help students, faculty, and staff find, evaluate, and use information effectively. Our work is guided by the ethical principles of the library profession, including a commitment to intellectual freedom, privacy, accessibility, and the free exchange of ideas. The American Library Association's Code of Ethics serves as an important foundation for these values.

We are also committed to cultivating spaces, services, collections, and workplace practices that reflect diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This commitment informs our daily work, planning, assessment, and ongoing professional development.

Belonging

We strive to create a library where all members of our community feel welcome and supported. By examining our spaces, services, and practices for barriers to access and participation, we work to ensure that the library reflects and responds to the diverse identities, abilities, and experiences of our users.

Learning

We embrace continual learning and self-reflection. Through assessment, dialogue, and engagement with our campus community, we seek to better understand evolving needs and use that knowledge to improve our services, spaces, and programs.

Value

We aim to create an environment where every person feels respected and valued. We seek to represent diverse perspectives in our collections and teaching, acknowledge the contributions that make our work possible, and foster a culture of inclusion and mutual respect.

History

In the early years, the University's library was housed in a succession of campus buildings until it found a home in Christie Hall in 1935. Although its basement location in Christie Hall was not ideal, it offered study space for students and room for the University's growing book collection. By the end of World War II, the library had outgrown Christie Hall, and users and supporters were clamoring for a new facility dedicated specifically as a library. In 1958, after a decade of planning and fundraising, the library opened its doors in its current location. In 1979, the Clark Library, then known as the Wilson W. Clark Memorial Library, was remodeled, expanded and rededicated.

Over the ensuing decades, the university's librarians initiated sweeping changes in research instruction, library collections, and information access to respond to an increasingly sophisticated and technology-based learning environment. Myriad changes in library services underscored the need for a library facility that supported modern learning styles and information expectations. To meet this need, the University undertook an extensive renovation of the Clark Library, enacting a vision that re-imagined the library as a shared intellectual commons. In the fall of 2013, the Clark Library re-opened its doors as a highly flexible, technology-rich facility that proactively supports UP students and faculty.

Explore more of the library's history through photographs, artifacts, and archival materials in our digital collections.

The Clark Family has been a generous and longstanding supporter of the library. Thanks to their contributions, along with those of many other donors, the Clark Library continues to play a central role in the life of the University of Portland. By combining traditional resources with the latest information technologies and expert assistance, the library serves the students, faculty, and staff in their search for information and their pursuit of knowledge.

 We welcome your support and invite you to learn more about Giving to the Library.