Great donors create a great library

The second Friends of the Library initiative is taking place at the Panitza Library between April 15 and May 14. AUBG students can donate money to the library in exchange for a selection of books available in front of the library entrance.

The initiative was set up for the first time last April to discard unused items and collect contributions for the library. The interim director of the library, Sophia Katsarska, said that the discarded books were initially supposed to be donated to other Bulgarian universities, but none of the universities sent a positive response.

Another alternative was recycling, but the library would get almost nothing for it, Katsarska added. "We came up with the idea to search [for] a new home for the old books and have an occasion to procure new ones. We give to students the chance to get some books they might find useful," Katsarska added.

"[There] are students who take books and do not contribute to donation," Katsarska said. However, Nikolina Ivanova-Bell, the manager of the campaign, said that students are not obliged to donate. "We are fortunate to have students, faculty and staff who know that this is their library and they show care for it. We are not guard dogs to keep an eye on what our patrons are doing," Ivanova-Bell added.

Student Prosper Goering took two books and donated some spare change he had in his pocket. He said he was very proud of his acquisitions, especially of Life and Letters, a book written in 1894. "I like the smell of old books," Goering said.

Student Zoran Stoilovsky said he does not find old age to be a good characteristic of the book he is looking for. "I want to find a book for political science, but unfortunately almost all books are outdated," he added.

The library is giving away doubles, and books on topics that are not in the university’s curriculum. The money from the donation campaign will be used to purchase new books for the library. So far the library collected 350 leva. Last year’s campaign ended with an amount of 650 leva. Ivanova-Bell said she is very grateful to all students for their involvement in the campaign. "We will inform AUBG community of the final amount that has been collected at the end of the initiative, as well as the new books that will be purchased," Ivanova-Bell added.