Florida State libraries obtain more than 350 free books through Library of Congress' surplus-books program

Florida State University librarians recently selected more than 350 books from the Library of Congress’ surplus-books program to add to the university’s collections. Shipment of the books from Washington, D.C., to Tallahassee without cost to Florida State was made possible by the office of U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd (D-North Florida), which provided franking slips for use on the shipping boxes.

“We are grateful to both the Library of Congress and Congressman Boyd for their assistance in helping us enhance our collections in several areas of interest, including art history and education,” said Julia Zimmerman, dean of University Libraries at FSU. “In this challenging economic climate, this kind of support is especially appreciated.”

The effort was spearheaded by Roy Ziegler, associate director for collection development for University Libraries.

“We were in Washington for the American Library Association conference, and we were very pleased to have the opportunity while there to take advantage of the free surplus-books program,” Ziegler said. “The staff from both the Library of Congress and Congressman Boyd’s office were so gracious, and we really appreciate all of their assistance.” Ziegler focused on selecting humanities books, and a significant percentage of them are in foreign languages.

Franking privileges allow members of Congress to send official mail using their signature instead of a stamp. Boyd’s office (www.boyd.house.gov) provided University Libraries with slips so that the books could be shipped without the libraries having to pay what would have been significant costs. The Florida State University is a public institution, and its libraries are open to the public.

The Library of Congress offers surplus books to educational institutions, public bodies and nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations in the United States having tax-exempt status under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1964. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/acq/surplus.html.

University Libraries (www.lib.fsu.edu) actively contributes to scholarship at The Florida State University through its collections, services and expert personnel. The university’s libraries in Tallahassee are Strozier Library, Dirac Science Library, the Claude Pepper Library (also home to the Governor Reubin Askew Collection), the Florida A&M University-Florida State University Engineering Library, and libraries in the colleges of Communication and Information, Law, Music and Medicine. There are also libraries at Florida State’s Panama City, Fla., and Panama City, Panama, campuses, and at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Fla. The libraries are decentralized to provide specialized services, programs and collections for users while sharing an online catalog and a common electronic circulation system.