Entrepreneurial research initiatives, intellectual movements that cross disciplines, and social interests emerging from changing global alliances will continue to inform the curriculum at a first-rate university. For example, the university's interdisciplinary sustainable ecology program is among the country's finest and is growing in response to demand by industries ranging from forest products to high tech. A newly established Judaic Studies program requires the purchase of library materials to support the program. As a program grows, its students and faculty come to the library asking for additional journal titles, books, and multi-media databases. The challenges of building and maintaining a leading research library are compounded by high inflation rates for journals, a growing demand for foreign publications, the explosion of electronic databases, a new interest in multi-media, and an expansion of scholarly interests and special fields of study.
Endowments are a vital component of the library's acquisitions budget.
In the recent past, they have allowed us to purchase a core research collection on the history of women, expand our resources in art and architectural history, and support new programs in environmental studies. Gift funds allow us to meet special needs and to enrich the collection in response to new directions in the curriculum.