NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 21 number 2 - Winter 2001
Palmours Establish Library Endowment
By Tony Reevy, Library Development
Hayne and Barbara Palmour of Raleigh, North Carolina, founded the Barbara
and Hayne Palmour III Library Endowment with the NCSU Libraries earlier
this year. The fund produces income supporting library collections, with a
preference toward acquisition of materials science and engineering resources. "My
relationship with the Libraries," Hayne Palmour says, "goes back
to my early days at NC State. I spent many days in D. H. Hill looking up references
for a project when I was a graduate student. Since then, I have sent many a
graduate student there to look things up. The library has been a part of my
involvement in teaching and research all along."
Hayne Palmour III, a native of Gainesville, Georgia, holds B.S. and M.S. degrees
in ceramic engineering from Georgia Tech and a Ph.D. in ceramic engineering
from North Carolina State University. He retired from NC State as professor
of ceramic engineering in 1994 after thirty-seven years with the university.
His wife Barbara, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, graduated from Agnes Scott
College. She is a retired preschool teacher. The Palmours' generous gift to
NC State also included founding the Barbara G. and Hayne Palmour III Gallery
Endowment benefiting NC State's Gallery of Art & Design.
The Palmours' concern for the library developed during the collections crisis
of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hayne Palmour explains, "I was on
the Faculty Senate when the library was in deep trouble. The Faculty Senate
took on the library as an issue and asked then-Provost Frank Hart to do a report
on the state of the library. Hart took on the issue as well and did a lot for
the NCSU Libraries." Barbara Palmour shares her husband's concern for
libraries, noting "The library is the hub of the university. The whole
university is judged by the quality of its library."
The Friends of the Library has also benefited from Hayne Palmour's interest
in the library. He joined the Friends' board in 1998 and played a key role
in developing its strategic plan. His service on the board and its Development
Council helped convince him that a library endowment gift is an important investment
in NC State's future: "Our gift resulted from the confluence of several
things. First, the gratitude I feel for the institution that nurtured me. Second,
my recognition of the library's needs. Finally, enlightened self-interest:
we owned some stock that had appreciated highly. It was prudent to give some
of this stock away today and take tax write-offs."
Palmour plans to continue his volunteer efforts to advance the library and
its mission. He adds, "In our self-study the Friends' board described
itself as an advocacy group acting on behalf of the Libraries. We made the
commitment to know enough about the library's needs to be effective advocates
for it. We also indicated that we are willing to back this commitment up with
our own financial support."
Hayne and Barbara Palmour fulfilled this commitment brilliantly by establishing
the Barbara and Hayne Palmour III Library Endowment. It will help to build
outstanding collections that serve NC State University now and in the future.
|
