Since the university announced its $2 billion fundraising campaign in 2014, UO libraries on and off campus have received numerous donations from alumni and community members.
To be exact, it has raised $37,101,451 as of March 31, 2016, exceeding its goal of $36 million, its website announced in celebration of UO surpassing the $1 billion milestone in July.
UO Libraries is, moreover, the first academic unit on campus to reach its fundraising goal in the campaign, said Keri Aronson, director of development with the UO Libraries.
“Our students and faculty need an outstanding system of libraries to create groundbreaking research across all disciplines and throughout all of campus,” Aronson said, “[The donation] packs a one-two punch: not only does it support the services and resources we provide to the school or college from which you graduated, it also helps us serve every other school and college on our campus as well.”
The UO Libraries was also well-supported during the university’s first giving day, #DucksGive, which lasted 36 hours from midnight of May 19 to noon on May 20. It received $528,095 from 125 donors, almost a quarter of the total of $1.8 million that the university received during the event. The amount helped UO Libraries meet the DeArmond Challenge, which included $500,000 to help fund the new Allan Price Science Commons and Research Library.
Thank you @uomatters for your gift to @UOregonLibNews! #DucksGive
— Univ_Oregon_Giving (@UOGiving) May 20, 2016
WE DID IT!$500k has been unlocked thanks to our amazing donors.Keep up the #DucksGive challenge until noon tomorrow!https://t.co/R8okwEi25N
— UOregon Libraries (@UOregonLibNews) May 19, 2016
With eight locations across campus, the UO libraries assists roughly 50,000 students with their studies and research everyday. With the Price Science Library at its final stage, the majority of the donations from #DucksGive will go towards the construction.
Some of the other funding priorities include a library fund, collection budgets, technology and the Student Employment Endowment Fund, Aronson said. Early May 2016, UO Libraries decided to cut $500,000 out of its collection budget due to the annually rising costs of databases and President Michael Schill’s initiative realignment. Two positions were also laid off due to the 2 percent cut.
Associate Dean for Research Services Mark Watson said, however, that cut is not new to the library. He said the system where publishers inflate the price of repackaging research is problematic.
“We get upset about it every time it happens, but in reality, this is kind of the way things operate.” Watson said.
Aronson said UO Libraries will continue to work on its fundraising campaign.
“We have surpassed some fundraising targets but have fallen short in others,” she said, citing collections, technology, and student employment as key areas still in need of support.
The previous version of this article mentioned Laura Bickerstaff’s donation of $60,000 to the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, Oregon as the part of UO Libraries’ fundraising total. It was not true. The Emerald regrets this mistake.
