New Coaches Fund supports UO Libraries

EUGENE, Ore.-- (Jan. 16, 2008) -- A new "Coaches Fund" to support University of Oregon Libraries has drawn 100-percent participation from UO head athletic coaches in its first year and will benefit all students.

The annual fund will be used to build library collections and keep up with changing technology. The fund is part of an ongoing effort by the athletic department and UO libraries, which both serve the campus and the broader community, to build bridges between academics and athletics.

"It's incredible," said Deb Carver, Philip H. Knight Dean of UO Libraries. "The coaches' response was immediate. Apparently, we struck a positive chord. My sense was that they'd been interested in giving to the academic side of the university for a long time but didn't know the best avenue."

Coaches and athletic administrators made personal gifts totaling $25,000, which was matched by donor Dave Petrone and his wife, Nancy. Dave Petrone is a 1966 UO graduate and longtime supporter of both athletics and academics at the university.

"A great library is really at the heart of any great university and we are fortunate to have such a tremendous resource in the Knight Library," said Vin Lananna, associate athletic director and director of men's and women's track. "I'm pleased to participate in the Coaches Library Fund to support an exciting future for our library and our university."

A luncheon to celebrate the launch of the new fund and to thank the coaches for their donations will be held from noon to 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 16, in the Browsing Room in Knight Library, 1501 Kincaid St.

"It was a pretty easy decision for me just based on the fact that education is my no. 1 priority and has been ever since I was a little kid. The library in a small town was where you got to see the world," said women's basketball coach Bev Smith, who remembers weekly trips to her hometown library in Salmon Arm, B.C. seeking the latest "Curious George" book.

Donor Dave Petrone, of Palo Alto, Calif., said he and Nancy decided to match the coaches fund because it brings together the athletic and academic sides of the university. "The coaches fund was one of the better gift ideas that's ever been presented to us because it has the athletic department working together to give to the academic side of the university," said Petrone.

Carver, of UO Libraries, said the new fund was inspired by a $25,000 gift to UO Libraries from football coach Mike Bellotti and his family in 2002 to support innovative use of technology. The Bellotti gift, which was matched by the athletic department and the College of Arts and Sciences, created an endowment that is now worth about $100,000.

The Bellotti Endowment has funded such improvements as transfer of library music collections to digital format, making them more accessible to students and faculty members; a new system for Internet delivery of articles from other libraries; new software, computers, and monitors for student use; new project management software to improve access to scholarly materials; and additional digital storage space for rare photographs and documents.

For more information about the luncheon or the coaches fund, contact Lisa Manotti, 541-346-1823, lmanotti@uoregon.edu.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contacts: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu
Lisa Manotti, 541-346-1823, lmanotti@uoregon.edu.

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