December 11, 2018 – The Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) Libraries unveiled a new plaque on their Donor Tree to honor the Second Wind Foundation, the Rotary Club USA and Rotary Club Beirut Cedars, for the donation of a shipping container of new and used books sent from the USA to Lebanon.
Rotary was established in the USA, but has chapters all over the world committed to advancing world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. The Rotary Club Beirut Cedars is a Lebanese chapter of the Rotary Clubs and is committed to advancing Rotary’s goals in Lebanon. The donation of books was organized by the Second Wind Foundation, the financial arm of the Rotary Books for the World project, and relates primarily to Rotary International’s interest in supporting education and literacy.
The NDU Libraries are still processing this extensive donation however they note that the materials are of high quality and are being distributed among all three campus libraries. Materials which do not meet the NDU Libraries collection development guidelines, for example school textbooks and duplicate copies of materials that already exist in the libraries collections will be offered to other academic, school and public libraries in Lebanon.
The majority of the books which have been added to the NDU Libraries collections so far are non-fiction titles which support one or more of the majors offered by NDU, while around 15% are fiction. Recognizing that the best way to improve vocabulary and writing abilities is by reading in the target language(s), the NDU Libraries routinely acquire works of fiction in order to support both the academic and personal reading interests of the NDU community.
In addition, a number of titles for children and young adults have been added to the curriculum collections housed in the Mariam and Youssef Library at the Zouk Mosbeh Campus and the NLC Library at the Barsa Campus in support of the undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Education. NDU Faculty members, Staff and Alumni are also encouraged to borrow materials from these collections to read with their children at home.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Rotary Club Beirut Cedars, including Antoine Kaldany, Incoming President, and Ronald Farra, Chairperson of the NDU Board of Trustees, along with various NDU Faculty and Staff members. Leslie Alter Hage, University Librarian, thanked the donors for their generosity and emphasized that the NDU Libraries are open to the public so she encouraged everyone to visit and take advantage of the many resources provided by the libraries in print and electronic format. Ms. Nesrine Sfeir, Assistant to the President for University Advancement, was also in attendance as a guest in the audience.
The event concluded with a tour of the Mariam and Youssef Library.