Give to the Library

Cornell University Library helps expand knowledge and fuel scholarship; it provides scholarly depth and breadth for current faculty and students. An essential resource for research and teaching, the library must maintain and consistently build its collections and services. The Library is as busy as ever and is a critical space where students come to focus their minds and engage in studies. It is also a place where librarians provide services that help make students successful and support the faculty’s world-class research. Support from alumni, parents and friends helps us to empower minds and provide future scholarship at Cornell.

Give your gift today!

Areas of Need

Cornell Fund for the Library – gifts of any size

Gifts to this fund enable the University Librarian to support critical needs including hiring student workers, purchasing materials, establishing new programs, and responding to emerging needs of students and faculty.

Endow a Student Worker - $100,000 minimum

Cornell University Library is the second largest employer of students on campus. Student library assistants annually contribute an effort roughly equivalent to that of 80 full-time employees. They keep libraries open late at night, provide technical assistance to fellow students and faculty members in computer labs, and work with the conservators to bind new volumes and build protective boxes to preserve fragile items in the collections to name a few.

Endow a Collection - $100,000 minimum

Library collections determine the future of scholarship. In the digital age, online resources are vital, even as print remains alive and well. Libraries work against a pervasive myth that all information is online, and everything online is free. The truth is that a lot of information isn’t online, and the best e-resources can be very expensive. Many disciplines still rely largely on print, and most online information needed for deep research is available as licensed content. The Library pays to unlock those resources. More than half of the Library’s budget is used to purchase online content for faculty and students.

An unrestricted endowment in support of collections will provide the University Librarian with the greatest flexibility to provide funding to areas with the greatest need. These funds play a crucial role especially with the budget cuts the Library has experienced in recent years.

Naming Opportunities - $50,000 - $3.5 million

The Library has a plethora of naming opportunities from Library spaces to positions. We would be happy to discuss these options if you are interested.

Contact

For more information, please contact:

Michelle Houle Hitz ‘98
Director of Development, Library Alumni Affairs and Development
Cornell University
130 E. Seneca Street, Suite 400
Ithaca, NY 14850
(610) 731-6299
mmh11@cornell.edu