A LIGHT IN THE WORLD
Supporters, faculty, Olympians, and musicians gathered at Memorial Stadium in February for the launch of Light the Way: The Campaign for Berkeley. (UC Berkeley)
It was a glorious occasion — a moment of togetherness before the world turned upside down. In late February in Memorial Stadium, Cal luminaries and supporters came together for the public kickoff of Light the Way: The Campaign for Berkeley. With a goal of raising $6 billion by the end of 2023, Light the Way is the largest fundraising campaign in UC Berkeley history. And inexorably woven into that campuswide effort is the far-reaching campaign — with five signature priorities — to build and sustain support for the Library, the thumping heart of the university. “The University Library is making the world better with the information it provides to Berkeley students and faculty, the people of California, and citizens around the globe,” says Marily Howekamp ’66, president of the Library Board. “This campaign is crucial as it will help the Library transform its services, programs, and content to meet today’s needs.” Make a gift.
Setting our treasures free
Employee Marco Perez digitizes The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins as part of a service that transforms print materials into digital formats for people with print disabilities. (Photo by Jami Smith for the UC Berkeley Library)
By digitizing its wealth of resources, the Library is releasing its collections to the world. At the same time, the Library is a national leader in the fight for open access, pushing to make the University of California’s research freely available to everyone. During the pandemic, publishers opened the floodgates to COVID-19 research, leading to unprecedented collaboration. But it’s not enough to lower the barriers to knowledge only in the face of crises. Critical to the work that positions Berkeley as an open access leader is the Office of Scholarly Communication Services, which this year saw a donation of $100,000 from Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing ’84 and Peter Baldwin, whose broader giving to the Library totals $5.7 million. Make a gift.
Bancroft & the West
Mark Twain sits in the library of his newly built house in Redding, Connecticut., in October 1908. (The Mark Twain Papers & Project, The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley)
For more than a century, The Bancroft Library has preserved the story of the West. Among the trove of materials on Western Americana, which make up Bancroft’s most well-used collection, is documentation of the communities that have shaped this extraordinary region, including Native Americans, Californios, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos. With the Bancroft & the West campaign, the Library aims to bolster this collection and bring it to life for patrons. This year, support includes the William J. & Edith Wallace Endowment for The Bancroft Library, a $2 million gift to collect and process materials illuminating California history, with an emphasis on the period before 1900, and the Western American Jewish History Fund, a bequest of $500,000 from Felix and Sue Warburg for the preservation of the Western Jewish Americana archives. Make a gift.
The Library Fund
Charles Franklin Doe Memorial Library (Photo by Jami Smith for the UC Berkeley Library)
The Library inspires and informs the work of not only the Berkeley community, but also researchers, students, and curious minds from all corners of the world. In addition to its countless services and tools, the Library is home to rare and one-of-a-kind materials including ancient papyri, pamphlets from the Free Speech Movement, and firsthand accounts of Japanese American internment. This year saw a generous donation to the Library Fund of $50,000 from W. Timothy ’59, M.B.A. ’62 and Annette ’61 Ryan. Gifts to the Library Fund support many key areas that help the Library do its part to cement UC Berkeley’s status as the greatest public university in the world. Make a gift.
Center for Connected Learning
Rendering of the Center for Connected Learning’s Skylit Consultation Courtyard (Seiji Anderson for the UC Berkeley Library)
In better times, it’s the campus’s own Grand Central Station. And this portal of undergraduate discovery is about to get even better. A state-of-the-art upgrade transformed Moffitt Library’s fourth and fifth floors in 2016, turning those spaces into a hive of activity. Next up is an overhaul of the lower three floors, which will create a unified, seamless experience under one roof. This transformation will solidify the library’s status as a go-to destination on campus, brimming with opportunities to collaborate with fellow students, learn in hands-on workshops and classes, and engage with the latest technology. This is not the Moffitt Library you remember. Say hello to the Center for Connected Learning. Make a gift.
Work+Learn
Work+Learn student Sofia Daniels, a video intern, films parts of an exhibit in the Brown Gallery in Doe Library in August 2019. (Photo by Jami Smith for the UC Berkeley Library)
Even during the pandemic, the Library is one of Berkeley’s leading student employers. Through its Work+Learn program, the Library provides students of all backgrounds with a financial boost and important résumé-building experience through its range of roles, from cataloging foreign language materials to producing podcasts. “So much of the job is learning by doing, which I’ve discovered is how I learn best,” says Sofia Daniels ’21, who served as a documentary video intern in the Library’s communications office. “When you’re actually thrown into doing something, you realize it’s not so difficult.” Make a gift.
