NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 24 number 1 - Fall 2003

The NCSU Libraries has received several very generous gifts within the last few months. These gifts will benefit the Libraries in a variety of ways, including support of the collections and enhancement of public spaces.

The Wolfpack Club, through the efforts of its Executive Director Bobby Purcell and Past President Steve Warren, has given the Libraries a $100,000 unrestricted gift, strengthening its ten-year partnership with the Libraries. The gift will be used to enhance the quality of the public spaces through the renovations being planned in the D. H. Hill Library. This gift will also be used as matching funds to help attract other donors interested in maintaining and enhancing public spaces by providing quality casework and furniture to allow quiet sanctuaries for reading and study. Purcell says,

"The Wolfpack Club is proud to be able to help our NCSU Libraries. Our library staff is outstanding, and what it has been able to do with the limited resources available is remarkable. The Libraries affect the entire university--students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We should all want to help make our libraries the best they can be. The Wolfpack Club is privileged to be involved with such a worthy and deserving part of our university."

Fred and Elizabeth Ginn of Raleigh have given the NCSU Libraries a large, deferred gift in the form of a charitable gift annuity. As a lifelong learner, Fred Ginn has a love for the NCSU Libraries. Both he and Mrs. Ginn received undergraduate degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill. Fred Ginn went on to obtain his medical degree from Duke University. In his sixties, Dr. Ginn returned to school, enrolling at NC State, where he earned a B.S. in geology in 1996. Ginn continues his education today, taking computer classes offered by Wake Technical Community College.

Dr. and Mrs. Ginn had recently established an incubator endowment and decided to fund it fully with a donation of stock worth more than $100,000. Elizabeth Ginn explains, "Since the Libraries' resources are such an important and integral part of any educational program, we wanted to support the NCSU Libraries with this gift." By establishing a charitable gift annuity with their gift of appreciated stock, the Ginns received an immediate tax deduction and will receive an annual income for the rest of their lives. The annuity payments are guaranteed by the NCSU Foundation. The Ginns' donation will go toward the Fred and Elizabeth Ginn Endowment, which supports the library's genetics and mathematics collections in all formats.

The NCSU Libraries recently received a donation of $15,000 from the University Graduate Student Association (UGSA) at NC State. The gift, which has been added to the University Graduate Student Association Endowment for the Libraries' Collections, raises the endowment to more than $36,000. Vice Provost and Director of Libraries Susan K. Nutter said,

"This is a great testament to the generosity, values, and priorities of our university's graduate students. Endowments make it possible for the Libraries to purchase materials beyond the scope of its annual budget. With support such as this, we are working to build the strongest graduate and research collections in the world."

Specially designed bookplates noting the endowment fund are affixed to all books purchased with graduate student endowment monies.

Officers of the USGA heard last year about budget cuts that would affect the number of periodicals and journals the Libraries could afford to purchase. This prompted them to make this generous donation to the endowment fund. The university has nearly 6,000 graduate students on campus. The UGSA is an organization that includes all graduate students in its membership. Its purposes include representing graduate students in matters that are important to them and disseminating information that may affect their lives at NC State. The UGSA actively encourages the participation of graduate students in helping to determine what issues are deemed most important to graduate students. The UGSA meets monthly in the D. H. Hill Library.

R. T. "Bob" Troxler left $15,000 to the NCSU Libraries in his estate. He passed away in October 2002. His family has requested that the bequest be used to name the faculty study on the ninth floor of the D. H. Hill Library, where he spent so much of his time. His family has described the library as his "first love." Troxler was a professor in NC State's School of Education, Department of Industrial Arts.

The NCSU Libraries deeply appreciates the tremendous philanthropic generosity of these groups and individuals. Thank you for helping to make the Libraries the vibrant center of North Carolina State University. For information on making an outright or deferred gift to the NCSU Libraries, please call Jim Mulvey, director of development, at (919) 515-3339 or send an electronic-mail message to jim_mulvey@ncsu.edu.