A coin drive for Bender Library kicked off yesterday with the goal of raising $10,000 from campus groups and students to improve the library's offerings, said Peter Brusoe, chair of the Student Working Group of the Friends of the American University Library.
The proceeds from the fundraiser, called "Change Your Library: A Mile of Pennies," "will go straight to improving our scholarly collection," said Brusoe in an e-mail sent to AU student organizations. The goal is $10,000 because it is the approximate dollar amount of pennies in one mile stacked one foot high, he said.
The library is looking to acquire such works as the "Encyclopedia of Anthropology 2006," "Encyclopedia of Judiaca (2nd edition) 2006," "World of Microbiology and Immunology" and "Islam and the Muslim World," he said.
AU's participating clubs will compete against each other to be the group that raises the most money through the end of the fundraiser on Dec. 5, Brusoe said. Each group's progress will be regularly updated on a board to be displayed in the Mud Box coffee shop in the basement of the library.
The winner will receive a pizza party sponsored by the Friends of the American University Library, and every group that raises 250 "feet" of pennies will have its name inscribed in a new library book as well, Brusoe said.
There will be a coin drop at the circulation desk so the entire university can participate, Brusoe said.
"What we want to stress is that every little bit helps," he said.
The Friends of the American University Library was founded in 1999 and has helped raise over $1.3 million to benefit the library's collection, said Tom Jacobson, chairman of the Steering Committee for the Friends, in an e-mail.
"[This amount] is over and above the library's normal budget and tuition monies," Jacobson said.
The Friends of the American University Library has the "express purpose of raising awareness and advocacy on behalf of the library, as well as fundraising," Jacobson said. It is composed of faculty, staff, students, AU alumni and neighbors of American University, he said.
Libraries today face significant challenges that often require funding beyond a tuition-based budget, and fundraisers like those organized by the Friends can help raise extra money, Jacobson said.
"Even an extra penny can make a difference," Jacobson said. "There are over one million new titles/books published each and every year."
Last year, the library purchased about 18,000 new titles, which means 982,000 new titles were not added to the collection, he said.
The library spends over 35 percent of its budget on resources and uses those funds to not only acquire traditional paper sources but also to help build a growing electronic collection, Jacobson said.
Chris Chan, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, said he hopes the group raises enough money to increase the library's resources.
"I hope the library is successful in raising the money so they can expand on the collection of materials they provide to us," he said.
The Friends of the American University Library has also organized various programs focused on awareness and advocacy for the library.
"We suggested and sponsored the new Literary Lunchtime at the library student reading series," Jacobson said.
That program, which began last Wednesday and will last into the spring semester, allows student writers to read from their own works on the last Wednesday of each month, he said.
