Library & Historical Collections

Your Mazama Library patron number opens the door to a world of mountaineering and outdoor information: books, movies and more. Patron numbers are free to Mazamas members and available in the library.

Loan periods:

• Items in general circulation: 30 days

• New releases: 14 days

Most items can be renewed for another 30 days if no one else is waiting for them
Special Collections (Vault) titles and reference materials: 0 days

Limits:

• Members are allowed to check out up a total of five items

Return all items to the Mazama Library on the lower floor of the MMC. Please return library materials during MMC business hours. Outside of business hours, books can be dropped off through the mail slot to the left of the MMC’s front door. Books larger than the slot will need to be returned during business hours.

You can place a hold on an item to have it held for you at the Mazamas library. You can have up to 5 items on hold at one time. Contact the library for more information about placing, suspending and canceling holds.

The Mazamas Library does not currently offer books by mail.

The Mazamas Library does not support interlibrary loan at this time.

You can renew most library materials and keep them for another one-month loan period. If another person is waiting to use an item, it cannot be renewed.

Mazamas Library materials may be renewed:

• by phone at 503.227.2345 ext 106
• by email at library@mazamas.org. Be sure to include your name, patron number, title, and call number or barcode number in your email.

There is a replacement fee for any item not returned for more than eight weeks (56 days) past the due date.

There may be a charge for any item not returned in good condition. Please talk to a library staff member if an item was damaged accidentally.

The Mazama Library is always on the look for:

• Hiking, climbing, and mountaineering guide books
• Biographies of mountaineers, climbers, and explorers
• Technical guides to rock climbing, mountaineering, ice climbing, etc.
• Obscure and locally produced climbing guides

The Mazama LIbrary is always on the lookout for hard to find and obscure mountaineering and climbing related journals and periodicals, including but not limited to:

Please, we do not need National Geographics or Mazama Annuals published after 1925.

The Mazama Library and Historical Collections (LHC) can only invest materials and labor in the preservation of items owned by the Mazamas. Therefore, the LHC only accepts donations but will not accept materials on deposit or on loan. Donors are asked to sign a deed of gift, which formally signifies that the materials become the actual property fo the Mazamas. 

The Mazama Library and Historical Collections (LHC) accepts a wide range of documents, records, and material. To summarize our collection development policy, in descending order of priority*:

1. Mazamas engaged in Mazama activities
2. Mazamas engaged in non-Mazama activities
3. Non-Mazamas engaged in non-Mazama activities

* exceptions to the rule are always considered, please contact the LHC Manager if you have any questions. 

Although the Mazama LHC cannot accept everything that you offer (whether because of staff and space constraints or because the materials are not within the collection development policy outline above), it welcomes the opportunity to review materials; if it is not appropriate for the LHC, there may be another repository to which you may be referred. Some materials may be of more sentimental than historical value and should be kept by the individual or family. 

Listed below are types of materials in personal and family records that are often valuable to the Mazamas. This list, which is not comprehensive, illustrates the wide range of materials that are often of interest to historical and administrative researchers: 

• letters and email
• memoirs
• diaries
• scrapbooks 
• professional papers
• articles and essays
• awards and certificates

Listed below are types of photographs and visual materials that are often of interest to the Mazamas. This list, which is not comprehensive, illustrates the wide range of materials that are often of interest to researchers:

• Photographs (with subjects and locations identified)
• Photo albums
• Films, videos, and audio tapes (including identifying information)

Listed below are types of mountaineering gear that are often of interest to the Mazamas. This list, which is not comprehensive, illustrates the wide range of objects that are often of interest to researchers:

• Wood handled ice axes
• Alpenstocks
• Camping gear (stoves, pots, etc.)
• Climbing gear (pitons, bongs, ropes, etc.)
• Crampons
• Clothing (jackets, pants, Mazamas t-shirts, etc.)
• Summit register containers
• And much more...