Whacking fences,
building loyalty

Last year at Homecoming Weekend, libraries director Margo Crist enthusiastically raised a sledgehammer in the official “Whack the Fence” celebration. Taking down – and replacing – the ugly fence ringing the W.E.B. Du Bois Library was a piece of the work done by the Friends of the Library.

     The Friends are crucial to the library’s well-being, because when it comes to fundraising, libraries have a special problem: They have no alumni. Unlike departments or programs or colleges, no one graduates from the library. Everyone uses it, benefits from its collections and the expertise of its staff, but institutional loyalty has to be built, says Arnette Nelson, director of development for university libraries.

     Anyone who makes a gift to the library becomes a Friend. In addition to the fence project, recent initiatives funded by the Friends include annual support for buying materials and the creation of eight new endowments since 1997. The library’s goal in Campaign UMass, which ends December 31, is to raise $1 million in gifts and five-year pledges for the library endowments.

     Several hundred members of the Class of 2000 launched the Friends’ current facilities project: new furniture for the third floor reserve reading room in the Du Bois Library. The goal, says Nelson, is to keep bringing improvements to the library – for collections, for facilities, for technology. Finding people who “care about the library” is the key.