UNC Libraries on track to donate 10,000th book

After five years, UNC Libraries’ book drive is on track to donate its 10,000th book to children fighting cancer.

The drive supports Karl’s Books — an organization that donates books to patients at the UNC Hospitals Pediatric Oncology Clinic.

Kathy Humphries founded Karl’s Books in honor of her son, who died in 2007.

“The books really speak to the children,” Humphries said. “They’re needing an escape from the situation they’re in and having a story read to them can take them to a place outside of where they are. We all like that.”

Humphries said children often told her they were bored when they came to the hospital.

“The staff have discovered that [children] really enjoy the books more than the toys, and that has been a surprise,” she said.

While other community groups donate books, the libraries’ drive is the only organized event for collecting them, Humphries said.

“The libraries’ book drive is such a good one that we get enough books to sustain us for the whole year,” she said.

Judy Panitch, director of library communications, said the idea originated from a desire to give back.

“Librarians have a special relationship with books and they know how important books can be to everybody and especially to children and children in need,” she said.

Panitch said at the time of the first book drive nobody imagined it would still be going five years later.

“It came together beautifully,” she said.

Panitch said there is a lot of support for the drive from student organizations.

“[The book drive] is a wonderful community builder,” she said.

Senior Roli Tyagi is president of Sangam, a student organization which focuses on raising South Asian awareness. She said they are getting involved for the first time this year to help bring a multi-cultural flavor to the drive.

“They were looking for books from different cultural backgrounds,” she said.

Tyagi said they have been collecting books that contain a South Asian theme — books where characters have names such as Raj and Rani. They aim to collect 150 books by the end of Thanksgiving break.

“Everybody’s been pretty much on board. Even our alumni have been contacting us seeing how they can get involved,” Tyagi said.

Bull’s Head Bookshop Manager Stacie Smith said the bookstore has been involved with the drive since the beginning.

“It’s not something we had to think about. It’s reading and it’s children and it’s local,” she said.

The bookstore is offering a 25 percent discount on children’s books bought for the drive.

“We’ve loved to participate every year,” Smith said.

Anna Rodenbough, a School of Public Health graduate student, said that UNC School of Medicine’s six advisory colleges compete against each other to see which can donate the most books to the drive.

Last year, more than 700 books were donated to the competition, and the colleges are hoping to donate 800 this year, Rodenbough said.

Rodenbough said the competition was a great event for medical students to participate in because many of them interact with children in the hospital.

“It can play a big role in the lives of those kids, but also give us an opportunity to give back to the kids we are helping to care for,” she said.

Panitch said UNC Libraries is pleased with how the drive continues to motivate people.

“This is something that has touched so many people here and we’re eager to share it with the campus.”