ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


June 1995/405

Pooled endow m ents: A  new  
funding id e a

By Stuart M. Basefsky

Publicize your donors on the 
OPAC

T he reasoning behind the specialization of library services into and within the catego­
ries o f administration, public services, techni­
cal services, and so forth has become blurred 
over time. As a result, it has become difficult to 
step back and take a focused look at how these 
interests converge. Roles o f individual depart­
ments are not necessarily synchronized with 
the objectives o f the library as a whole. Find­
ing effective actions that can play to the needs 
of each library niche as well as to the general 
library’s goals can be illusive. This article de­
tails an example o f one successful action. It 
comes as a result o f knowing a desired out­
come and raising pertinent questions. It is hoped 
that other libraries and librarians will find some 
promise in this initiative.

The concept is that research periodicals and 
looseleaf services should be completely en­
dowed because they are recurring and predict­
able costs. The money previously budgeted for 
these materials could pay for new serial titles, 
monographs, or electronic information. And 
OPACs can be used as advertising tools to get 
donors to pool their endowments to make this 
an administratively manageable program. This 
is done by entering the sponsoring individual, 
family, or corporation into the holdings record 
and thereby advertising their generosity 
throughout the world via the Internet.

The idea may seem simple. Getting it ac­
cepted, however, is another matter. The library 
world is complex and the issues surrounding 
this initiative are full o f nuances. This article

attempts to explain some o f the thinking that 
went into the proposal.

Issu e s a n d  th o u g h ts
The Martin P. Catherwood Library, like other 
libraries, must cope with overwhelming tech­
nological advances, ever-increasing demands 
for service, and limited, if not diminishing, bud­
gets. Taking a holistic view, I identify several 
major issues which I see are connected:

1) Inadequate budgets.
2) The often conflicting needs to purchase 

electronic sources and services while maintain­
ing paper collections.

3) Soliciting unrestricted endowments while 
avoiding accounting problems which come with 
multitudes o f small endowments.

4) Finding acceptable reasons to maintain 
in-house catalogs and catalogers.

5) Generating positive public relations which 
can be bartered for additional support.

By asking good questions, the interconnect­
edness o f these concerns becomes apparent.

1) Can one identify a major budget prob­
lem that presents itself year after year?

In this library the acquisition o f research 
periodicals is identified. This is because peri­
odicals, serials, looseleaf services, etc., tend to 
be recurring costs which budgets must include 
each year. These are predictable expenses, ideal 
for endowments. Additionally, periodicals are 
the most often used items in this library.

2) Can endowments be identified as the 
most viable means o f solving ongoing bud­
getary problems in this library?

Yes, without endowments it is virtually im­
possible to maintain this library as it is and ex­

Stuart M. Basefsky is a reference librarian at Cornell University, New York State School o f Industrial & Labor 
Relations; e-mail: SMB6@CORNELL.EDU

mailto:SMB6@CORNELL.EDU


406/C&RL News

pand into electronic media at the same time. 
Ideally, it would be best to endow our recur­
ring costs— currently purchased research peri­
odicals— and use existing budgets to expand 
into electronics. Perhaps there has been too 
great an emphasis placed on reinventing librar­
ies. Reinventing budgets is equally important. 
Otherwise the call for flexibility to reinvent 
oneself falls on deaf and poor ears.

3) Are there problems associated with 
endowments? And can these be solved?

Yes, there are problems with endowments. 
The major one is multiple accounts. This can 
be solved, however, by pooling the endowed 
funds. In other words, no donor gets an en­
dowment in their name, no special account is 
made in a donor’s name. There is only one 
fund— the pooled endowment— into which all 
donations go and from which all endowed 
purchases are made.

4) Is there an appropriate, efficient, and 
inexpensive w ay to give recognition to do­
nors? Is this recognition sufficient to con­
vince donors to pool their funds with oth­
ers? And w ho in the library is best equipped 
to maintain this marketing process?

An appropriate way to give recognition to 
donors is the catalog, which is sufficient to con­
vince donors to give. This is true only because 
o f the existence o f OPACs and the Internet. In 
brief, the catalog should recognize donors who 
are endowing items appearing in the catalog 
(see proposal below for details). The ability to 
have worldwide recognition o f one’s generos­
ity is better than having a name attached to a 
fund or, perhaps, even a building.

The answer to the last question is catalog
ers; they are marketers. The reasoning behind 
this is: library catalogs are rarely appreciated 
for their secondary uses. They have always been 
advertising tools for publishers and authors. 
They do not simply promote the use o f materi­
als in a library. Catalogs provide purchasing 
information to users and they recommend and 
often develop the reputations of authors. Printed 
works in a respected collection acquire some 
o f the image o f the library itself. Why then have 
libraries not expanded these secondary utili­
ties to their advantage? Advertising the gener­
osity o f donors, either persons or corporations, 
can ensure future funding opportunities. Cer­
tainly this is one argument in favor o f main­
taining in-house catalogs and catalogers; they

can be directly involved in various forms of 
marketing.

5) H ow  does one convince donors not 
to restrict their funds to items o f their 
choice?

By giving donors a preselected list o f things 
to choose from, this problem is largely solved. 
The donor gets a choice and the library knows 
what will get chosen (see proposal for details). 
All donors must be told they can only choose 
from preselected items; they cannot force a li­
brary to purchase unwanted material. Recom­
mendations are welcome, but decisions rest 
with the librarians.

6) Are there some identifiable reasons 
w hy endowments o f this nature have not 
been sought before?

One reason is that development officers take 
the attitude that spending a lot o f time cultivat­
ing wealthy donors for large sums o f money is 
better than spending an equal amount o f time 
for smaller sums o f money. They are mistaken. 
Smaller sums o f money can be attracted faster 
and, in fact, are convenient last-minute tax de­
ductions requiring little thought and commit­
ment from the giver. If properly managed, this 
kind o f donation— library p ooled  en d ow ­
ments— can generate large numbers o f donors 
with good feelings for the institution, thereby 
increasing the long-term potential o f the big 
donor pool itself. The library can be the “hook” 
which brings in bigger fish.

P r o p o s a l fo r  a  “ P o o le d  E n d o w m e n t 
fo r R e s e a rc h  P e r io d ic a ls ”
The Martin P. Catherwood Library at Cornell 
University should seek to endow its entire 
periodical collection. Assuming that budgets 
will force the library to drop important titles 
to purchase new ones, endowments for the 
collection will becom e a necessity. In any 
event, money for flexible acquisition o f la
bor-management resource material, regard­
less o f format, is in danger because o f tight 
budgets and the general information explo­
sion itself.

Endowments in a library can be a process­
ing nightmare. Separate funds for every part of 
a collection can create a situation which is la­
bor intensive and mistake prone. Therefore, the 
following proposal is put forward.

I. Create a pooled endowment. This puts 
all endowed funds into one large fund. This



June 1995/407

one fund will be used as 
the source o f all endowed 
periodicals.

II. Make the reward 
for giving an en dow ­
ment the placement of 
the donor’s name (o r  
corporate name, fam­
ily, etc.) in the online 
catalog. With the Internet 
providing access to library 
catalogs, donors can see 
their names from any lo­
cation in the world. All 
students and future stu­
dents will know the gen­
erosity o f the donor in as­
sociation with the per­
iodical en dow ed. (N o  
named endowments are 
permitted).

the practical application o f the idea was given 
life by Phil Dankert, collection development 
officer, and Chung Kim, head of cataloging.

C o m m e nts
Some librarians take offense at the idea that 
catalogs can be used as marketing tools. Oth­
ers regret that libraries have to beg for money. 
I am sympathetic to these notions. However, 
taking umbrage is not productive. The prob­
lems libraries face today are real and serious.

The pressures placed on libraries by the busi­
ness world often lead to downsizing, cutting 
services, outsourcing, and merging operations. 
These activities are useful and effective when 
they do not interfere with the basic mission of 
the library or interfere with the libraiy’s ability 
to give flexibility to the institutions and indi­
viduals it serves. When libraries get to the point 
where they not only see obstacles for them­
selves but see themselves as obstacles to their 
clientele, they are in trouble. At some point, 
libraries have to realize that saving money will 
not insure their future. They must make money; 
not in a profit-making sense, but by attracting 
money to long-term investing in the future. Li­
braries must, therefore, take control o f budgets 
to the extent they can. Pooled endowments and 
OPACs used for advertising are among the many 
tools which provide this flexibility.

T a b le  1. O P A C  listin g  o f d o n o rs

Using NOTIS, the screen will appear as follows after looking up 
the title PENNSYLVANIA’S LABOR FORCE and then finding a hold­
ings record:

TITLE: Pennsylvania’s labor force
Location 1

LOCATION: ILR Library (Ives Hall)

CALL NUMBER: HD5725 .P4 A192

OTHER INFO: Non-circulating

CURRENT ISSUES: 1993:Jan.–July

NOTES: Endowed by Stuart Basefsky

LIBRARY HAS: 1988

1989:Mar– Dec.

1990– 1992

[This kind of record allows each holding library o f a system to 
use its own copy-specific local note field(s) to indicate an endow­
ment. As a result, several libraries within a system can have the 

III. Choosing peri­
odicals for endowment. 

same periodical endowed. Why not endow those multiple copies?]Periodicals should be put 
into several categories by 
cost. Journals costing A ) less than $100, B) be­
tween $100 and $200, C) between $200 and 
$500, etc., should be selected by collection de­
velopment and acquisitions. An endowment 
level for each category should be established 
artificially high. In other words, for category A 
the minimum endowment should be $5,000. 
This is done to insure that the investment re­
turn on the endowment will always exceed the 
cost (with inflation concerns) o f the journal.

IV. Dealing with title changes. Should the 
title of the periodical change, inform the do­
nor. Should the title cease, allow the donor to 
choose another periodical. Possible titles will 
always be chosen by the library, not by the 
donor.

If the library follows this plan of action, the 
online catalog becomes a marketing tool for 
family and corporate donors. It allows previ­
ously hesitant donors to get a “permanent struc­
ture” at Cornell in their name. If they like the 
feeling, they can be approached for more sub­
stantial donations. It allows the School o f In­
dustrial & Labor Relations to approach families 
which are not “wealthy” and which are cur­
rently overlooked by development officers.

The above proposal was accepted in Sep­
tember 1993 largely because o f an open envi­
ronment cultivated by the director o f the 
Catherwood Library, Gordon Law. In addition,



408/C&RL News

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