"Sponsor a Shelf" success for College Library

A new fundraising scheme whereby Johnians “sponsor a shelf” in the College Library has raised over £40,000 to buy books for current St John’s students.

A recent fundraising scheme set up by the College Library has successfully raised over £40,000 to buy new textbooks for current St John’s students.

“Sponsor a Shelf” was launched in March as a joint venture between the Library and the Development Office, in order to raise money for the Library, one of the largest and best-stocked in Cambridge, to expand its collection of books and research materials for use by students across all subjects at St John’s.

The scheme gives previous generations of Johnian students the chance to support those in residence today, by ensuring the Library can stock the most up-to-date editions of core texts for all subjects studied at Cambridge.

Donors can choose to “Adopt a Book” or “Sponsor a Shelf” in their chosen subject, ensuring that students will have access to world-leading research and publications. As thanks, donations will be celebrated by a personalised bookplate or specially commissioned shelf label to be displayed in the Library. Donors are also acknowledged in the College magazine, The Eagle.

The “Sponsor a Shelf” scheme has so far enabled the Library to buy over £40,000 worth of new textbooks, resulting in an increasing number of students using the Library as their central hub for study and research.

The number of books borrowed from the Library has risen to over 21,000 in 2014, 12% more than the previous year, and figures show that student Library use continues to rise. Dr Mark Nicholls, the Librarian, said:

“St John’s strives to be the best-provisioned College library in Cambridge by acquiring the most up-to-date editions of core texts and course books, many of which are reissued annually. In some subjects, notably the Sciences, Medicine, Engineering and Law, multiple copies are often purchased to meet the academic needs of our students.”

“In order to meet increased demand for access to the latest published research and writing, we sought to boost our level of investment in the collections”, Dr Nicholls said. “As it has done for centuries, the College relies heavily on the generosity of its alumni to guarantee its high standards of academic provision”.

For more details and information about how to contribute to the “Sponsor a Shelf” scheme, please see www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sponsor-shelf, or contact Will Evans, Annual Giving Officer, on 01223 760988.