Giving to KU Libraries
Impactful giving
One of the most impactful ways you can support the University of Kansas is by making a gift to KU Libraries. We support all Jayhawk scholars, regardless of discipline or major. Every student, faculty member and unit at KU turns to the libraries for classroom instruction, one-on-one research assistance, and online databases. Each of our libraries offer the essential resources students need to excel academically. Your support helps us provide the best services and expertise to enrich teaching and learning, and to fuel research at KU and beyond.
Become a friend of KU Libraries
Friends of KU Libraries are recognized at six giving levels, with baseline annual membership achieved with a gift of at least $100 or an in-kind gift.
- Benefactor – $2,500 +
- Advocate – $1,000 +
- Donor – $500 +
- Friend – $100 +
- Contributors – Gifts in kind
- KU Community – Current and retired faculty and staff, as well as current students, will be recognized at any giving level
As a friend of KU Libraries, you will help to preserve and build upon the libraries' critical resources and diverse collections, benefiting future generations of Jayhawks. A contribution of any amount benefits every student, faculty member and unit at KU.
Renewed Study Carrels, Renewed Opportunities
Watson Library’s renovated study carrels are a new opportunity to leave a legacy at KU.In early April, KU Libraries celebrated its third design-build collaboration with KU’s School of Architecture and Design with a reception at Watson Library, unveiling an essential upgrade to a beloved space. Designed and installed by students, for students, the renovated study carrels in Watson’s 3.5 West Stacks bring light and warmth to a place many students consider their home away from home, particularly with final exams approaching. The design-build project provided Arc/D students with real world experience while contributing to the betterment of a campus icon that has stood in support of every student and faculty member for more than 100 years.
The endeavor continues the momentum started with highly successful and popular renovations to third and fourth floor study carrels, As with those earlier projects, the renewed carrels provide a unique, visible opportunity to support students in the very place they’re researching and discovering. KU alumni and friends can contribute to the renovation project by naming a carrel through a gift to KU Libraries. A special plaque placed in each named space will recognize the gift and its intent - from carrying on the legacy of your family or honoring a beloved professor to recognizing a student approaching graduation.
For more information on the carrels or to secure your named space, contact Christy McWard, KU Libraries Executive Director of the Office of Communications & Advancement at cmcward@ku.edu or 785-864-0092.
A Foundational Need
As a student, Bev Kennedy Bradshaw relied on libraries' study spaces as a place of productivity and focus, as well as libraries' resources to support her academic success while obtaining her degree en route to a successful career in human resources."During my HR career at one point I oversaw payroll, which is one of those functions that people rely on and of course need ... I thought about the libraries and its the same in some ways - a big job, hard job, and complicated serving so many different constituents in so many locations. Sometimes if might be easy to take it for granted, but it's a foundational need which impacts the entire KU community...
"I’ve always felt lucky to have gone to KU. It changed my life. After I graduated, I knew that I wanted to give back, and I realized the library was the perfect place ... I thought about how great the library made things for me as a student and I wanted to give where I felt like my dollars could have the most impact.”
