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Study of library fund-raising activities at colleges and universities in the United States

In recent years, financial support for academic libraries has been inadequate to meet the many demands that these types of institutions face. The library literature has increasingly recommended that libraries become involved in fund raising activities in order to supplement the support they receive from their parent institution. However, little is known regarding what type of fund raising program is best suited for a particular type of institution. The purpose of this study is to investigate how pervasive fund raising activities are at academic libraries in the United States, to ascertain what character they take, how they differ between sizes and types of institutions, how success may be related to these and other factors, and to determine what impact these efforts are having on library programs and operations. / Library directors were surveyed at 600 randomly selected colleges and universities, proportionally stratified by Carnegie Foundation type, and classified as being baccalaureate granting colleges or above. Usable responses were received from 517 institutions, or 86.1% of the libraries in the sample. / Responses indicate that approximately 66% of all academic libraries engage in fund raising activities, with research libraries being more likely to engage in fund raising than other types of libraries. Most libraries take part in fund raising activities because of the rising cost of information technology, along with the fact that they are encouraged to do so by their parent institution. They engage in a wide variety of activities in order to raise funds. The size and type of institution appears to be a significant factor in which types of fund raising activities are engaged in and how successful they are. / This report examines which types of fund raising activities are most successful, how fund raising income is utilized by academic libraries, how fund raising efforts are organized and staffed, what role friends of the library groups play in fund raising initiatives, how fund raising is related to levels of support from the parent institution, and why some libraries choose not to engage in fund raising. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-12, Section: A, page: 4594. / Major Professor: John N. DePew. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77616
ContributorsLatour, Terry Stephen., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format270 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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