As the intellectual heart of UNC Charlotte and the greater Charlotte community, J. Murrey Atkins Library advances teaching, learning, research, innovation, academic success, and collaboration for UNC Charlotte and the greater Charlotte community by connecting people with expertise, information, services, technologies, spaces, and experiences.
Up for the Challenge?
- Atkins Library needs your support, Niner Nation! If the library receives 49 gifts in 49 hours or less, a $1,000 reward will unlock from the Atkins Library Board! 18 more gifts needed to meet the goal!
Rise and shine Niners! The college, program or fund that receives the most alumni gifts from 6 to 8am on Wednesday, 3/29 will win an additional $1,000.- Calling all night owls: you can score bonus funds for the Atkins Library by staying up to make your gift on Wednesday, 3/29. The college, program or fund that receives the most gifts from 12am to 2am will receive $250!
It takes a Nation to support Atkins Library
Atkins Technology Fund
Atkins Library seeks donations to support the purchase of emerging and prevalent technologies and equipment that can be circulated from or incorporated into Area 49 and our other services and spaces for students to use in their coursework and to prepare them for future employment. We must continuously refresh and update the equipment we offer to students to keep up with wear and tear and changes in technologies. We want to work towards an endowment for this purpose. Atkins is every UNC Charlotte student's source for technology learning, experimentation, ideation, creation, and mastery. The library makes available the technologies that students incorporate into their academic work and prepare to use in the workplace.
Library Study Room Renovations
In our Spring 2019 student survey, students requested that our group study rooms be renovated with new furniture and technologies. As part of the Library's strategic plan to "continuously seek to increase/renovate collaboration and quiet study space," five first-floor group study rooms were renovated with new paint, writable walls, furniture, and technology including screens with Air Media wireless presentation technology. These study rooms are always the first ones reserved each day and are the most heavily used in the building. The cost is $12,500 per room, which can be spread over three annual payments.
Julian and Elsie Mason Fund for the Purchase of Rare Books
Julian D. Mason was a UNC Charlotte English professor. He and his wife, Elsie, established this endowment fund in 1993 for the library to purchase rare books, such as early editions of American literature. They made a special point to say the funds should be used to purchase books related to all the cultures of the United States, not just those of the majority. Professor Mason himself was a leading scholar of Phillis Wheatley, an African American poet of the eighteenth century. We rely on the funds generated every year from the Mason Rare Book endowment to develop our rare book collection, which is used extensively in our instruction program since the library budget lacks funding for the purchase of rare books.
Atkins Library Fund
This fund is used by the dean of the library to support events and other initiatives of benefit to students, faculty, staff, and community programming. It helps pay for expenses not covered by the state budget. We use it to bring in nationally recognized exhibits such as from the National Library of Medicine. The Atkins Library Fund covers honoraria for guest speakers, cost-share collaborations with community partners, and Diversity/Equity/Inclusion events and programming.
