The Academic Affairs Library has received a $150,000 pledge to support the North Carolina Collection, the nation's largest library collection related to a single state.
W. Trent Ragland Jr., a 1941 University graduate and major donor, said he had wanted to do something extra for Carolina for some time. He decided on the library because it is essential to the University.
"It serves everybody," he said. "A university is no stronger than its library."
Ragland set up an endowment fund, which will be invested to produce income to pay for purchases of books, documents, and other materials for the collection. He named the fund in honor of his wife of 52 years, Anna Wood Ragland.
The Anna Wood Ragland Library Fund is especially noteworthy because materials for the collection are purchased only with gifts and endowment income, not with state funds, said Joe Hewitt, associate provost for university libraries. The Ragland gift is the largest in many years to be earmarked for the collection.
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