The University of Oklahoma Libraries is the intellectual crossroads of the university, providing materials and assistance to facilitate knowledge creation. Library services are provided from six locations, including the largest research library in Oklahoma. OU Libraries contains world-class special collections in Western history, the history of science and Chinese literature translation, as well as branch libraries for fine arts and geology.
- OU Libraries provides access to and training with emerging technologies like virtual reality, 3D printing, microelectronics, and artificial intelligence. OU Libraries emerging technologies department maintains collaborations with all 12 OU colleges located on the Norman campus.
- OU Libraries are helping to keep OU affordable through their support of open educational resources, textbook lending program, and research management software. OU Libraries Alternative Textbook Grant will have cumulatively saved students over $2M in textbook costs.
- OU Libraries provides research support by:
- awarding excellence in undergraduate research through annual scholarships.
- acquiring datasets to expand campus resources.
- serving as one of five international academic libraries to be development partners on a research object management and software package.
- creating environments to support cross-disciplinary research for faculty and graduate students, as well as collaborative study spaces for undergraduates. To date, approximately 88,000 square feet of the Bizzell Memorial Library has been renovated to support collaborative research and study.
- OU Libraries has received three national awards from Library Journal for transforming the role of librarianship, two Campus Technology “Library Futurist Awards” for digital projects, the 2015 Great Inspirations Award from the Creativity World Forum for the Peggy V. Helmerich Collaborative Learning Center, three awards from the Oklahoma Museums Association for the Galileo’s World exhibition, and one for "Best Publication" for our Sooner Horizon special collections newsletter.
- The University of Oklahoma Libraries remains the state’s largest research library. In addition to the Bizzell Memorial Library, OU Libraries is comprised of branches in fine arts, energy/geology, and engineering.
Special Collections
- OU Libraries holds special collections in the history of science, western history, Chinese literature translation, business history, 15th century to contemporary English, European and American literature, the Bizzell Bible Collection, and the personal library of Daniel J. Boorstin, one of America's most distinguished and influential historians.
- OU’s Western History Collections, located in Monnet Hall, is one of the largest collections of documents and photographs relating to Oklahoma, the southern Plains, and the American West. The WHC draws students and scholars from across the nation and offers fellowships to visiting scholars and OU graduate students whose research depend on the unique material related to Oklahoma's tribal nations, economic development, and community life found in the collections.
- OU maintains one of the most important collections of books and manuscripts in the history of science in the United States. It includes Galileo’s own copy of the work documenting his use of the telescope to support the Copernican theory, with corrections in his own handwriting.
- The Chinese Literature Translation Archive, located on the 4th floor of the Bizzell Memorial Library, contains over 10,000 volumes and documents from the world’s greatest translators of modern Chinese literature including Howard Goldblatt, Wolfgang Kubin, Wai-lim Yip and Arthur Waley.
Facilities and Featured Spaces
- The OU Libraries recently opened the Learning Lab in the Bizzell Memorial Library. It provides a single location for research assistance as well as guidance from the Writing Center, U.C. Action Tutoring and the Office of Undergraduate Research.
- The Peggy V. Helmerich Collaborative Learning Center in the Bizzell Memorial Library features a collaborative classroom and flexible workspaces. It includes a variety of individual and group study areas, including a seminar space, a Community Room, Consultations @ OU Libraries, and group meeting and research areas.
- The Zarrow Family Faculty and Graduate Student Center in the Bizzell Memorial Library opened October 2017 and provides a space dedicated to supporting the research and teaching needs of OU faculty and Graduate Students. Features include individual focus rooms, meeting and collaboration areas, spacious reading rooms with reservable bookshelves, as well as a social space to encourage collaboration and cross-departmental connections. A Data Analytics, Visualization & Informatics Syndicate (DAVIS) supports data management, analysis and visualization and provides consultations with information specialists from departments across campus.
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