Breadcrumb
Giving to the Library
Cal Poly Humboldt Library is the heart of the University, and valued by students as their favorite place on campus, many thanks to our supporters. When you give to the Cal Poly Humboldt Library, you are advancing student researchers and creativity, reducing the cost of an education with Textbooks on Reserve, enabling access to emerging technologies such as the digital dissection table and flight simulator, and inspiring learners and readers with research collections including Special Collections, The Press at Cal Poly Humboldt, and more.
Cal Poly Humboldt Library promotes teaching, learning, research, and scholarship by integrating information resources and innovative programs and services. Your gifts have a tremendous positive impact on student experiences and learning.
Continue reading below to discover and explore where your vision and ours come together and the many different ways you can make a gift today.
Book Collection
Build a vibrant book collection with up-to-date and unique resources. The cost of new books and information continues to increase, and we are very interested in building important research and special collections that meet the needs of students, faculty and community. Please help us build in areas or disciplines that you are passionate about. Any donation helps, and collection endowments can be formed starting at $27,000 or more.
In addition, check out our Cosmos in the Stacks project to inspire curiosity in the Library stacks. Working in collaboration with students, we are exploring self-guided interactive exhibits that showcase the disciplines. Supporting this project makes it possible to enhance adventures from anthropology to zoology, and empower computer science and engineering students with inspiring real-world projects.
Children's Literature Collection
The Library’s Children’s Literature Collection (CLC) has entered an exciting period of renewal, with efforts over the past few years to revitalize both the collection and its space. Located on the second floor of the Library, the CLC attracts student and employee families, local community members, and families with children who are exploring campus, while also serving as a vital resource for students in Education and Child Development who use children’s literature in their classes. Since 2023, child-friendly furniture, puzzles, and toys have been added to make the area more welcoming, and we are now focusing on revitalizing the aging collection of books. Community support can play a crucial role in helping the CLC grow, and your contributions will strengthen this essential resource for our students and families.
Hall of Simulation
The Hall of Simulation offers a variety of hands-on experiences that spark curiosity and inspire learning. From soaring through the skies in an FAA flight simulator, battling digital fires on a SimTable, exploring the digital dissection table collection of five humans and 120 animals, or molding a topographic map using the student-built augmented reality sandbox, there is a unique and engaging experience for everyone. The Hall of Simulation is the perfect place to explore the adventures of learning environments that leverage simulation technologies.
Support the student assistants providing demonstrations of emerging technologies and help us inspire a passion for learning with books and technology.
Library Scholar Internships
Library Scholar interns earn real-world experience in research, digital media, and publishing through project-based learning. These high-impact learning experiences give hands-on training, team building, and publishing opportunities to produce work that shares Humboldt's unique collections and learning worldwide. Interns lead projects such as researching and writing for the web, curating exhibits and engagement programs, creating presentations or virtual reality, and text layout and digitization for The Press. Your gift can help Cal Poly Humboldt students achieve their dream.
“As I made my way through the donation, I was reminded of sifting through my grandfather’s collection after he had passed, and seeing a long life of scholarship and discovery reflected back at me. The same is true for Oliner’s collection. I hope that my contribution to this project will allow his materials to make their way to library shelves and into the hands of students, staff, and other guests interested in his field of work.”
—Anastasia Wright, Sam Oliner Gift Processing Project, Library Scholar Intern, Spring 2022
Makerspace & Digital Media Lab
The Library Makerspace and Digital Media Lab provide students from all disciplines with access to emerging technologies, hands-on learning, and opportunities for innovation. Students can design, prototype, and create projects using tools such as 3D printers, virtual and augmented reality equipment, audio and video production tools, and more.
Donations support student internships, equipment, supplies, and educational programs that foster creativity, entrepreneurship, research, and real-world problem solving.
As demand continues to grow, we hope to expand the technologies available to students, including laser cutters, large-format 3D printers, and other advanced tools. Your support helps ensure that all students have access to the resources they need to learn, create, and innovate.
NW Conference Room / 360 Room
Transform what a library classroom looks like and imagine a space to explore visualizing data or immersing video environments, such as underwater and tide pools, urban landscape, wildlands, tree canopy, or wildfire. Empower research with next-gen projection technology and enable access to emerging tools that provide powerful and immersive teaching and learning environments as the classroom of the future.
(Photo credit: MSU Libraries, Digital Scholarship Lab 360 Room)
The Press at Cal Poly Humboldt
Donating to The Press is an impactful way to support both the academic growth of students and the preservation of important cultural and social narratives from our area. Funding for the program directly addresses areas of greatest need, such as student assistants, ISBN registration, publishing equipment and software, external peer reviews, professional editing, marketing, and internships.
“My biggest takeaway from working at the press was realizing I never wanted to leave… but when I did, I would have advantages I hadn’t been able to have before.”
—Student Assistant Cello Wicklin, Art B.A., '24
Special Collections & Archives
Cal Poly Humboldt Library's Special Collections is the region’s premier location to research the history and communities of northwestern California. We provide open access to Cal Poly Humboldt students and researchers from around the world to a unique collection of photographs, maps, rare books, and archival materials. By providing paid student employment opportunities and internships, Special Collections is working to add archival material to our ever expanding digital collections while training the next generation of archivists and librarians.
Susie Van Kirk Collection
Humboldt County lost two extraordinary community activists, Susie Van Kirk, and Lucille Vinyard, in December 2015. Susie Van Kirk was a historian known for her meticulous and accurate research. Her work on historic preservation, Native American genealogy and Humboldt history leaves a legacy that researchers will use for generations. Susie Van Kirk was a staunch environmental activist and deeply committed to feeding and sheltering people in need. Lucille Vinyard’s tireless efforts to establish and expand Redwood National Park were crucial to protecting much of the planet’s remaining old growth redwood trees.
Housing the Van Kirk & Vinyard Research Collection at the Cal Poly Humboldt Library provides students and the community with enriching opportunities to learn and be inspired by these two activists. Support ongoing local special collections research of our outstanding community activists.
Textbooks
Students spend an average of $400 each semester on textbooks, making the Library's Textbooks on Reserve Collection one of our most impactful student support programs. In Fall 2022 alone, students checked out 347 unique textbooks more than 2,200 times. While the collection cost the Library approximately $40,000 to build, it saved students an estimated $270,000 in textbook expenses.
Nationally, 65% of students report not purchasing a required textbook because of cost, and 90% worry that doing so will negatively affect their grades. To help address this challenge, the Library purchases high-cost textbooks and makes them available for short-term checkout, allowing many students to benefit from a shared resource at no cost.
Your donation directly supports student success by expanding access to essential course materials. Donors may also choose to honor a loved one or recognize someone who made a difference in their life with a commemorative nameplate placed inside a textbook.
