Historically, extension programs provided a means of assisting farmers and homemakers while avoiding the time and hazards involved in travel.  Today they cover a wide range of topics from agriculture, forestry, animal science, health and nutrition, gardening, home economics, and much more.

Extension programs are directed by land-grant universities within the United States. Extensions emphasize taking knowledge gained through research and education and bringing it directly to the people. 

U.S. extension programs were birthed from the Hatch Act of 1887. The Washington State College Extension began in 1891. Today there are 39 WSU Extension locations spread throughout the state. Here's a link to more information of the WSU/WSC Extension.

The WSU Libraries' search catalog will locate all available extension documents (e.g. historic, contemporary, digital, and hard copy).

To locate these documents, the catalog pulls from Research Exchange (the institutional repository at WSU), WSU Extension Publications (current publications), and the WSU Manuscripts & Special Collections (historic materials).

Using the WSU Libraries' catalog to find WSU/WSC Extension Resources

There are several strategies that you can use to find extension materials within the Libraries' catalog.

For example, you can:

- Search for the name of an Extension document or bulletin.

- Create a search using WSU/WSC Extensions as the author. 

- Do a keyword search and then limit your results within the Author/Creator field to display just Extension resources. This image provides more information on that.

You can also locate non-WSU extension research within the WSU Libraries' Catalog.

There are many ways to do this. For example, you can:

- Search for the name of an Extension document or bulletin.

- Create a search using the extension at the author/creator. For example, here's a search using Oregon State Extension Service as the author/creator.

- Do a keyword search and then limit your results within the Author/Creator field to display just Extension resources. You can then choose which extension service you wish to view. This image provides more information on how to do that.

Links to External Extension Resources

Survey of Digitized Historic State Agricultural Publications — This ongoing project provides an inventory of digitized state agricultural publications via a Google spreadsheet. Links to publication are provided for each state and U.S. territory (listed on separate tabs). Documents are both historic and contemporary. This ongoing project was created by an AgNIC Working Group.

HathiTrust Digital Library - HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. HathiTrust provides historic extension resources from multiple institutions. 

The Internet Archive - Provides resources for many state and Federal extension services.

Journal of Extension (JOE) - Established in 1963, the JOE is the flagship journal for Extension professionals. As a refereed journal, JOE expands and updates research for U.S. Extension professionals and other outreach educators to improve their effectiveness and serves as a forum for emerging and contemporary issues affecting U.S. Extension education