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FRENCH STUDIES: Giving to the Library

A library research guide

Giving to the French Collection

 

Monetary Gifts: Endowments, Major Gifts, Memorial Gifts, Matching Gifts, Planned Gifts, Bequests, TrustsLight the Way: The Campaign for Berkeley

Berkeley’s world-class education and research depend on the ready access offered by the Library to a comprehensive record of human knowledge, together with the latest discoveries in every field of learning.

From rare and precious manuscripts to thousands of titles used in day-to-day research, the University Library’s Canadian collection supports students and faculty in Berkeley’s academic departments and programs. The holdings range from core collections housed in the Doe Library and Gardner Main Stacks to specialized research materials in our fourteen subject specialty libraries. Just as Berkeley’s academic programs consistently rank at the top among their peers worldwide, the Library's collections that support those departments are internationally renowned for their depth and breadth.

The University Library is seeking private support to maintain the excellence of its collections. The cost of building these collections has increased dramatically, due to spiraling book and journal costs, as well as to the declining value of the dollar. It is due, as well, to a burgeoning of new information - a dramatic rise in the number and specialization of journals, the availability of full text and searchable electronic versions of items previously held only in print, and the emergence of new genres of digital content.  

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Book Donations

Contribute Online or Contribute by Mail
 

 

Monetary Gifts

Financial support is very important to the future development and ongoing curation of the library's collections. Contributions provide funding for expensive resources, specialized equipment, conservation of rare books, and exhibits or special projects. Financial gifts may be unrestricted or support a specific library program, service, or collection. In addition to cash, the Library welcomes securities and other real or tangible property.

Endowments- Endowment funds may be established with a gift of $50,000 or more to support library collections, programs, projects or positions. These endowed funds provide the University Library, in perpetuity, with an annual income that ensures our collections and programs remain strong and vital regardless of the strength of state and campus budgetary support. Donors may choose to support specific programs, projects, or library materials in a discipline or area of the donor's choice. We encourage interested donors to contact us or the Library Development Office to discuss possible endowment opportunities.

Major Gifts - Significant contributions toward Library enhancements are welcomed and could include a recognition plaque or naming opportunities for improved areas, subject to campus approval procedures.

Memorial Gifts - Contributions given in memory or in honor of a person or to mark a special occasion are recognized with a bookplate and family members notified. For a gift of $1,000, a named memorial book fund can be established, and for gifts totaling $50,000 or more, a named memorial library endowment fund with its own special bookplate can be created.

Matching Gifts - Some firms match their employee's gifts to higher education. Ask your company's Matching Gifts Coordinator, or call 510/642-9377, and we will provide you with a list of companies with matching gift programs.

Planned Gifts - You may invest in the Library's future by including it in your estate plans without decreasing assets during your lifetime.

Bequests - The simplest method for a planned gift is to include the Library in your will. Bequests can take the form of cash, securities, or other property, and may be a specific sum or a stated percentage of the estate.

Trusts - A trust can be established to produce income for the donor or others during their lifetimes and ultimately provide future support for the Library. Cal's Gift Planning staff can provide assistance in determining an appropriate arrangement to meet your individual needs.

Book Donations

Gifts of scholarly materials and the results of research have historically represented a significant element in the development of Berkeley's outstanding research collections. We welcome individual gifts, but due to space and staff limitations, we must be judicious in accepting large contributions. Donations of recently published books are welcomed. New book purchases will be checked to ensure titles aren’t already on order.

Please contact library gifts coordinator Dirk Kennedy to discuss your donation of books.

French Studies Wish List

Classiques Garnier Numérique

Please consider donating or underwriting the following items:
  • Ebook collections from Classiques Garnier Numérique
    Since 1896, Éditions Classiques Garnier has been publishing literary works from around the world, French and foreign, ancient and modern, in reference editions. So many ebook collections are available from this reputable independent academic French publishing house. Please consider funding perpetual access to one of the many collections faculty and students at Berkeley use on a daily basis.
  • Harmathèque 
    Largest collection of ebooks in the French language. The multimedia platform offers ebooks, articles, videos, and audio recordings on many subjects across the humanities and social sciences. The content of the ebooks comes from a variety of French publishing imprints, including L’Harmattan, Pagala, Odin, IXE, etc.

The following works have recently been acquired with generous support from Library donors:

  • Correspondance complète de Rousseau ONLINE
    In partnership with the Voltaire Foundation, this digital corpus makes Ralph Leigh’s critical edition in 52 volumes in the original French-language available as an ebook collection for the first time. acquired June 2024
  • This electronic resource from Classiques Garnier Numérique gathers the 24 most important dictionaries on French language, in total about 200,000 pages (2,500 signs per page), 900,000 entries and definitions. It is the greatest collection today available on the subject. acquired June 2015
  • Corpus Montaigne
    Thw result of twenty years of dedicated researce, this e-resource from Classiques Garnier Numérique brings together all the different editions of the works of Montaigne in the 16th and 17th centuries, published from the manuscripts and the printed originals. It also includes all of the works published in Montaigne's lifetime and after his death by his "daughter-in-law" Marie de Gournay, all the editions published from the 16th to the 20th century, their annotation and critical apparatus, and also the best editions of the complete works in Italian, English, German and Spanish. acquired June 2013
  • Grand Corpus des grammaires françaises, des remarques et des traités sur la langue XIVe-XVIIe siècles
    Also from Classiques Garnier Numérique brings together in one single database the Corpus des grammaires françaises de la Renaissance, le Corpus des grammaires françaises du XVIIe siècle and the Corpus des remarques sur la langue française (XVIIe siècle) which is virtually every available grammar work from the 14th to the 17th century. acquired February 2012

Contribute Online

Donations can be made online using the Arts & Humanities Collection Fund Gift Form and by designating that your gift is for the French Collection.

Contribute by Mail

Please make checks payable to UC Regents and specify that it is for the French Collection. Send along with any instructions regarding the donation to:

Claude H. Potts
​Librarian for Romance Language Collections
438 Doe Library
University of California
Berkeley CA  94720-6000

tel: (510) 643-8966
email: cpotts [at] berkeley [dot] edu


For more information about giving to the Library, please contact the
The Library Development Office.