A variety of ways exist to find records held in the Oberlin College Archives. For the traditional user visiting our office, the "Information Leaflet" series and finding guides will be the most direct means to gain access to the Archives' holdings. Users visiting the Archives will also want to consult the published Oberlin History Bibliography (1992), the Guide to the Women's History Sources in the Oberlin College Archives (1990), and the Guide to the Architectural Sources in the Oberlin College Archives (1996).

For users with access to the Internet, about 416 finding guides, which describe our holdings, are accessible from the Archives' website. Users may especially like to examine the finding guides of our personal papers collection (RG 30), Oberlin community (RG 31), and student life (RG 19). The knowledge from the "Information Leaflet" series, mentioned above, is contained in our online "Using the Archives" section. Also, located on O.B.I.S. (Oberlin Bibliographical Information System) and on the two national bibliographic utilities (O.C.L.C. and R.L.I.N.) are dozens of archival collection level records. Both our website and the O.B.I.S. records will link you to the finding guides. Online versions of the above published resources as well as instructions on how to contact the College Archives are also available on the Archives' website.