AGENDA #3a(2)

Enriching our community by helping our Library collections grow

January 30, 2007

Mayor Kevin Foy

And Chapel Hill Town Council

The Town of Chapel Hill

Re:  Cornelia Spencer Love Recognition

       Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation

Dear Mayor Foy and Town Council,

As you know, the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation has oversight for the Cornelia Spencer Love Trust, which annually provides revenue for special projects for the Chapel Hill Public Library.  The Trust was formed in 1982 after the death of Cornelia Spencer Love. Miss Love left a private gift of $350,000 to be invested, with regular allocations made to enhance public library services for our residents. Since then, the value of the Love Trust has risen to approximately $1.8 million. Over the past 24 years, nearly $1.5 million of Love Trust funds have been distributed to the Town.

The Foundation finds that, in general, the public is unaware of Miss Love’s valuable gift to the community.  To recognize the generosity and the extraordinary vision of Miss Love, the Foundation proposes a permanent and informative display in the Library that would honor Miss Love. This display would include a portrait of her, two framed educational diplomas, and a small plaque that would credit her philanthropic contribution to the Library. The display could be located either in a public area of the Library on the first level or in the administrative suite on the lower level. 

Cornelia Spencer Love lived in Chapel Hill most of her adult life. She was a trustee of the Chapel Hill Public Library for 12 years, from 1958 to 1970.  For most of that time, she acted as Secretary to the Board of Trustees. She is known for her active role in helping found the Chapel Hill Public Library. In addition, she donated private funds that helped pay for the construction of the library facility on Franklin Street.

Cornelia Spencer Love was widely admired for her compassion for people and her desire to improve the community of Chapel Hill where she lived and worked. From 1917 to 1948, she served as head of the acquisitions department in the UNC Library. Although Cornelia Spencer Love was involved in many local philanthropic endeavors, including an anonymous gift to the Town to construct the A.D. Clark pool, her greatest commitment was to the Chapel Hill Public Library.

The generosity of Cornelia Spencer Love has had and continues to have a tremendous impact on the quality of the Chapel Hill Public Library.  Love Trust funds have been used to purchase an automated circulation system, to enhance technology, to purchase equipment and shelving, to help provide an opening-day collection for the current library, to strengthen the children’s book collection, and now, to help achieve collection goals set forth in the Library Master Plan, including the 9300 Books Now initiative, a part of the Ensuring Excellence Capital Campaign.

Now it is time to recognize the legacy of Miss Love and the remarkable gift she made to the public library. The Foundation and the Library already possess a portrait of Miss Love and original documents certifying her education in librarianship. The Foundation wishes to display these pieces in a modest way so that the generosity of Miss Love is apparent to those using the Library.

Thank you for your kind consideration of this request, which I submit on behalf of the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation.

Sincerely yours,

Gene Pease
President
Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation
PO Box 4771
Chapel Hill, NC  27515