Did you know that you can help the world’s largest single repository of knowledge acquire important national treasures or make its unparalleled collections more accessible? Or keep important books, films, maps and other artifacts from being lost to the ravages of time? Or document the stories of everyday Americans? Or promote literacy, reading and innovative approaches to K-12 education?
While the Library of Congress relies upon congressional appropriations to carry out its missions, much of its work also depends on the generosity of the private sector. It is now much easier for individuals, corporations and foundations to support the de facto national library through financial donations with the July 29 launch of the Library’s new “e-Giving” Web site, created by the Library’s Development Office and its Office of Strategic Initiatives.
E-Giving affords individuals the opportunity to support a host of Library programs through a single, safe online transaction. The new program accepts all major credit cards. Donations to specific funds or projects are securely routed through the U.S. Treasury Department’s Pay.gov.
“I am pleased that we now have an expeditious, safe way to increase the public’s investment in the nation’s library,” said Sue Siegel, the Library’s director for development.
Interested donors may access the site from the Library’s Home page by clicking on “Support the Library” and then on “Donate Now,” or they may go directly to www.loc.gov/donate/ to make a minimum donation of $25 to the program of their choice.
The site provides several donation options. One section of major priorities gives donors the choice of clicking on these categories: “Where it is needed most,” “Acquire rare and unique items” or “Preserve and protect collections for future generations.”
Another section, “Support Key Library Initiatives,” allows donations to be made electronically to exhibitions and educational programs, literacy and reading programs, the National Book Festival, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Scholarly Programs and the Veterans History Project.
Or, donors may give to “friends groups” that support the American Folklife Center, the Asian Division, the Hispanic Division, the Law Library, the Music Division, the Geography and Map Division, or Preservation.
Donors may also specify a favorite fund that may not be listed on the Web site.
The system allows patrons to make honorary contributions and memorial gifts in celebration of friends, family members or loved ones.
Upon making donations, donors receive instant confirmation of their gifts and e-mail confirmation (if the donor provides a valid e-mail address).
The e-Giving site is made possible in part by seed money from the Leaders Circle, a former advisory group of the Library of Congress that will be recognized as Founding Members of this initiative.
Private-Sector Support
Private-sector support for the Library is nothing new. Long-established trust and gift funds help pay for the acquisitions of Library materials and their processing, preservation and, more recently, digitization for online distribution. For the past 18 years, individual members of the James Madison Council have given millions of dollars toward the purchase of rare and unique materials—two notable examples are the 1507 Waldseemüller map displaying the first chart and name of America and replacement volumes for those missing from Thomas Jefferson’s Library. American Memory, the Library’s early digitization project that now contains more than 13.6 million items, would not have gotten off the ground without the help of individual and corporate benefactors. The Packard Campus of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center would never have been built in Culpeper, Va., without the support of the Packard Humanities Institute. The National Book Festival would not occur without corporate sponsorships.
Trust Fund Established in Memory of Mary Wolfskill
A new trust fund has been established at the Library to honor the memory of Mary Wolfskill, whose 37-year Library career was devoted to the Manuscript Division. She died on May 23, 2005. The Mary Wolfskill Trust Fund has been established with a generous gift from her sister, Edie Hedlin, of Arlington, Va.
Hedlin worked closely with the Manuscript Division, the Development Office and the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board to establish the endowment, which has two goals that reflect Wolfskill’s personal and professional interests.
The first goal is to underwrite Manuscript Division internships that will foster interest in archival work among graduate and undergraduate students, particularly minorities or students from smaller and lesser-known schools.
The second is to strengthen the Manuscript Division’s ties to the archival community through support for the Modern Archives Institute and other similar programs hosted by the Library of Congress. The Wolfskill fund also may be used for any other activity related directly to the fund’s purpose.
Wolfskill spent her entire 37-year Library career working in progressively responsible positions in the Manuscript Division’s Preparation Section and Manuscript Reading Room before retiring as head of the division’s Reference and Reader Services section in April 2005. “Her circle of friends was broad, her generosity legendary, and her knowledge of the division’s collections and history phenomenal,” said Janice E. Ruth, manuscript specialist in American women’s history.
Memorial donations to the Mary Wolfskill Trust Fund may be made through the Library’s new e-Giving program.