EBSCO PLEDGES $2 MILLION TO AUBURN UNIVERSITY

AUBURN - EBSCO Industries Inc. has pledged $2 million to Auburn University’s “It Begins at Auburn” Campaign, from which AU Libraries will receive $1.5 million, and other parts of the university will receive $500,000.

An international corporation with a large presence in Alabama, EBSCO is a worldwide leader in the information services industry.

The library gift will be used to enhance services for undergraduates and their access to Special Collection materials at Auburn University Libraries. Library Dean Bonnie MacEwan said EBSCO’s gift will improve AU Libraries’ space to reconfigure learning-commons areas so that they provide a productive, dynamic and comfortable learning environment.

“EBSCO’s generous gift will provide resources to help us meet the needs of today’s library users with a state-of-the-art learning commons,” said MacEwan. “It also will give us the opportunity to digitize and share with scholars throughout the world the collections that make Auburn University Libraries unique.”

A portion of the gift will support the libraries’ program to digitize unique and rare collections. Not only will this preserve the resources for future use, but also will make them available to students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members.

“The digitizing of rare collections places them on the internet, allowing libraries and scholars all over the world to bring together unique resources as if they were together on the shelf, thereby opening new avenues of scholarship,” MacEwan explained.

AU Libraries administers Draughon Library and libraries for the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Architecture, Design and Construction.

The EBSCO gift will also assist the College of Business, the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences and the Athletics Department.

The College of Business will receive $300,000 to establish the EBSCO Industries Inc. Endowed Professorship. “An endowed professorship such as the one created by EBSCO is a very important tool for attracting and retaining outstanding faculty,” said Dean Paul M. Bobrowski. “Great faculty are a key ingredient in the making of a great business school.”

The company’s commitment also includes $75,000 to support research programs in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences and $125,000 for support of the Athletics Department.

The “It Begins at Auburn” Campaign is a $500 million comprehensive campaign that is raising funds for all colleges and schools on campus as well as the AU Libraries, athletics, Auburn University at Montgomery and AU’s museums. The campaign’s focus includes student scholarships, faculty and program endowments; facility, equipment and campus beautification; and research and current operations.

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Auburn University is a top-50 ranked public university that has provided instruction, research and outreach to benefit the state and nation for more than 150 years. A more than $4 billion economic impact on the state - including more than $2.4 billion in providing jobs and people resources - demonstrates AU's commitment to this mission. AU has more than 214,000 alumni, and provides 130 degree options to nearly 23,500 graduate and undergraduate students.

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