Oviatt Library


The Delmar T. Oviatt Library serves the California State University, Northridge campus, located in Northridge in the northern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. The library is named for Delmar T. Oviatt, instrumental in the founding of San Fernando Valley State College, CSUN's predecessor.

History

Construction for the original library began November 14, 1957, marking it as the college's first permanent campus building. Students were allowed to use the building beginning on February 16, 1959 and the library had its official opening on March 3. The library featured four floors, 200,000 books and a capacity of approximately 15,000 people. The library was heavily damaged during the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, making it necessary for the closure of the upper floors of the library for repair and organization.
Original construction of the Oviatt Library was in two phases. The first phase was opened on October 24, 1973. The second, completed in 1991, nearly doubled the size with additional east and west wings. Both phases were designed by the architect Leo A. Daly. The 1994 Northridge Earthquake badly damaged the building forcing the library to close. The original 'phase one building' re-opened later in 1994. The 'second phase wings' needed demolishing and reconstruction, and re-opened in 2000.
The Oviatt Library maintains its own AS/RS, built in 1991, with the capacity of 1.7 million volumes.
In 2019, CSUN president Dianne F. Harrison appointed a campus committee to investigate whether the Oviatt Library should be renamed due to allegations of racism.

Services and collections

The Oviatt Library has a physical collection containing 1.3 million print volumes, of which over one million are books, and over 249,000 bound periodical volumes. The Library subscribes to over 84,000 online journals, 200 online databases, and approximately 500,000 e-books. The microform collection contains 3.1 million pieces. There are over 14,000 sound recordings, and over 60,000 film and video recordings. A special focus is the San Fernando Valley History Collection digital archives. The Special Collections & Archives section of the Oviatt Library has many archival collections of important primary source documents including a large collection of materials on LGBTQ and Human sexuality. In addition, the Oviatt Library's Teacher Curriculum Center provides a large circulating collection of curricular materials for education students and local educators.

Film and television shooting location

The Oviatt Library has served as a shooting location for numerous films and television series, including Star Trek, Sky High, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, and The Orville. It was also one of the filming locations for the music video Intentions by Justin Bieber.