UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the second year in a row, the Penn State University Libraries Textbook Fund received a boost thanks to more 70 donations totaling more than $30,000 from the recently concluded Giving Tuesday campaign. The University Libraries participation in Giving Tuesday allowed alumni, students, parents and friends to support the Textbook Fund, which serves to alleviate or reduce a student’s semester textbook bill.
Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving that is celebrated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, with organizations benefiting from the generosity of individuals. Supporters provided funding for critical needs at Penn State, as the University Libraries topped its 2015 Giving Tuesday total with $30,520 designated for the Textbook Fund in 2016.
Donations to the Textbook Fund will help the University Libraries increase the number of textbooks and course materials purchased each year, which can positively affect students across all majors, colleges, programs and campuses.
A new endowment, created by donations to the Textbook Fund in 2015 and 2016, will supplement the University Libraries’ budget in this specific area, with the goal of making available at least one current edition of each required text for every course offered at Penn State. A conservative estimate by Libraries staff put this cost at a minimum of $1 million, with the potential to reach nearly $2 million.
Matching gifts from individual supporters, three entities — the Penn State Bookstore, managed by Barnes and Noble; Shipley Energy; and the Penn State University Press — pledged funds to assist students through the new endowment. The Penn State Student Bookstore, managed by Barnes & Noble, pledged $10,000, with $5,000 each coming from Shipley Energy and the Penn State University Press.
Members of the Penn State community were asked to use Giving Tuesday as an opportunity to make a gift of any size to any area of the University, recognizing the philanthropic spirit of the Penn State family. More than $670,000 was raised across 23 areas of the University in 2016.
Giving Tuesday will again be held on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017, but donations can be made to the University Libraries Textbook Endowment throughout the year at giveto.psu.edu.
For more information about the University Libraries Textbook Endowment, contact Wendi Keeler at wak109@psu.edu or 814-863-5446.
Penn State’s alumni and friends are invaluable partners in fulfilling the University’s land-grant mission of education, research and service. Private gifts from alumni and friends enrich the experiences of students both in and out of the classroom, expand the research and teaching capacity of our faculty, enhance the University’s ability to recruit and retain top students and faculty, and help to ensure that students from every economic background have access to a Penn State education. The University’s colleges and campuses are now enlisting the support of alumni and friends to advance a range of unit-specific initiatives.