Since UW was founded in 1861, gifts have made significant contributions to the excellence of the University Libraries and have helped build its outstanding collections. In 2007-2008, the Libraries’ Gifts Program processed nearly 60,000 items from over 1,300 donors.
Many students and researchers may consider their books or collections to be of little to no value upon graduating or finishing their research and might either discard them or donate them to charity; in fact, these materials are often of great interest to the Libraries because their content is directly related to an academic program! (Materials that do not fit the Libraries collection scope are, whenever possible, distributed to other institutions; for example, as a partner in the Books for Libraries Program, the University Libraries last year distributed more than 4,000 excess gifts and withdrawn materials to libraries throughout Eritrea in Northeast Africa.)
This fall, UW graduate Tim Pasch donated his collection of Canadian and Arctic Studies materials, comprising books and media he used while pursuing a doctoral degree in Communication. Notable items in this donation include a bilingual (English/Inuktitut) Nunavik Terminology Database, monographs and reports published by local government and tribal agencies, short runs of serials published in the North, and annual reports from the Nunavik Inuit Elders’ Conferences.Much of this material is either not widely held by research libraries or is difficult to source from outside the Canadian Arctic. With climate change and sovereignty issues propelling the Arctic to the global stage, these materials will prove invaluable for scholars and researchers.
Thanks Tim – it’s donations like these that have helped the Libraries create and maintain a world-class collection!
I would also like to report that The Orbis Cascade Alliance, the consortium of Oregon/Washington academic libraries that participate in and are responsible for the Summit shared catalog, is changing software vendors. The new WorldCat catalog will give you access to over 107 million library records, made accessible through powerful and easy-to-use search capabilities. Now, more than ever, resources for Canadian Studies from the world’s libraries are findable and requestable directly from your desktop! You may experience minor changes in service levels when requesting materials from other institutions, as staff get used to using the new system. More information at: http://www.lib.washington.edu
