How will my gift be used?

The following efforts require private funding to support technology upgrades, building renovations, furniture, equipment, faculty and staff. Giving opportunities include named spaces (multimedia conference rooms, offices, study spaces, etc.) and faculty positions.

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Student support

KU Libraries are proud to provide innovative spaces, helpful resources, and essential services for every student.

Librarian at a whiteboard teaching classroom about citation managers

Textbook affordability

As devoted supporters of student success, KU Libraries remain committed to ensuring the existence of affordable and accessible resources for all Jayhawks.

Student mapping how much they spent on textbooks on a graph

Open Access

KU Libraries are proud to be a worldwide leader in Open Access efforts, creating accessibility to published works and dramatically increasing the visibility and reach of research conducted at KU.

Panel presentation on Open Educational Resources

Collections

KU Libraries are home to rich collections that help to advance the research initiative at KU and are accessible to students, faculty, and researchers across the state of Kansas and around the globe.

Student in front of book in Spencer Library Reading Room

Faculty support

Librarians provide expert instruction and support that empowers communities of learners to connect with and navigate through a knowledge-intensive landscape on the Hill.

Researchers working together in front of a laptop in Watson Library

Digital scholarship

KU Libraries offer vital expertise and key tools for engaging with the growing landscape of digital scholarship.

Student consulting with librarian while looking at laptop

Thank you for supporting KU Libraries!


Student support

KU Libraries work to adapt to the changing academic landscape and give students the tools they need to succeed. By blending technology, comfort and flexibility, study spaces in all library locations are built to help students excel at KU. In classrooms across campus, libraries faculty and staff provide more than 600 instruction sessions, reaching upwards of 10,000 students.

Textbook affordability

As drivers of student success, KU Libraries have long been committed to ensuring the existence of affordable and accessible materials for all Jayhawks. The Textbook Heroes initiative recognizes the extraordinary work of KU faculty, staff, instructors, and students who advocate for textbook affordability in classrooms at the university. Through the contributions of generous donors, we have provided grant funding more than 20 projects that support adoption, adaptation or creation of open educational resources (OER) at KU, impacting thousands of students.

Open Access

In 2009, KU became the first public university in the United States to adopt a faculty-initiated open access policy for the faculty research published in peer-reviewed journals. KU continues to be a worldwide leader in open access today. The university’s policy, which is implemented by KU Libraries, asserts the rights of KU faculty to provide broad, free access to their journal publications to colleagues around the world, dramatically increasing visibility and reach for research conducted at KU. This program requires private funding to support software, technology and implementation. Giving opportunities include software for streamlining and automating the submission process, additional technology tools for open access support, and events like Open Access Week, which highlight KU as an international leader in the open access movement.

Collections

KU Libraries  invests in high-quality materials in many formats that serve research, teaching and learning needs at KU. The libraries are home to rich collections — both traditional and online — of more than five million volumes and one million subscriptions to journals, magazines and newspapers. Private gifts of any amount support building, processing, digitizing, and preserving collections in the social sciences, humanities, and science and technology areas.

Faculty support

Librarians are a critical link between scholars and information. Gifts supporting professional development mean KU Libraries can continue to build upon an outstanding portfolio of expertise to deliver top-notch support to the people and priorities of our university. Librarians at KU are exploring innovative new support models, such as "embedded librarianship," which enable them to work more closely with students and other library users.

Digital scholarship

KU Libraries provide faculty and students with expertise and tools for creating and using digital scholarship to enhance research, teaching and learning at KU. Our consultative librarians focus on organizing and preserving the results of today’s research for tomorrow’s scholars. In spaces both physical and virtual, faculty find expert consultants, academic opportunities and digital tools.