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CORVALLIS - Oregon State University is offering unofficial transcripts, application forms, a calendar of events, access to its "gopher" system and an interactive map of campus from a touch- screen kiosk at OSU's Portland Center.

The center, at the corner of Third and Yamhill streets, is host to the sixth kiosk in the OSU information chain. The five kiosks on the OSU campus, average 10,000 requests a month - mostly from students checking on their grades, class schedules, account balances and financial aid.

The newest kiosk is intended primarily to assist current and former OSU students living in the Portland area, said Phil Brown of Information Services, who installed the machine for use.

"One of the things we do hope to see out of it is that students or former students don't have to travel to Corvallis to get their grades, unofficial transcripts or account balances," Brown said.

The kiosk has a fax machine, printer and telephone built into it so students, prospective students or alumni can obtain assistance from OSU. Faxes are the only service that isn't free; the machine accepts credit cards.

On campus, the kiosks have shortened student lines considerably, say OSU officials, allowing staff to spend more time helping students with problems. Students can print off class schedules, get their grade reports faster, and track their financial aid at machines available in Kidder Hall, the Memorial Union, Kerr Library, the administration building and LaSells Stewart Center.

At the OSU Portland Center, the kiosk serves as a easy way for people to get commonly used forms. The kiosks will print out admission applications and address change forms, for example, and can even fax completed forms to campus.

A directory of free departmental numbers for OSU also is listed. And the machine provides access to a wide variety of information - such as sports schedules, degree programs, gardening tips and campus job vacancies.

The machines eventually will support the World Wide Web, and include a regional map to help people in Portland planning to drive to campus.