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The Friends of Leonard H. Axe Library was established to unify the efforts of those interested in participating in Library activities and in improving Library services for the academic and public community of Pittsburg, Kansas. The goals of the Friends include:

• Stimulating a greater awareness of the Library's role in the University and community.
• Aiding the Library in matters of development, acquisitions and program enrichment.
• Encouraging gifts, endowments, collections and memorials to the Library.
• Sponsoring, through the Library, programs designed to add to the cultural life of the community.
• Encouraging adoption of new technologies that can further the educational goals of the Library and the University.
• Promoting Axe Library as the information resource center of Southeast Kansas, in cooperation with the regional public, school and community college libraries.

Friends Events

The Friends of Axe Library co-sponsor the PSU Faculty Author Reception, held each Fall at the Axe Library to honor the publications of PSU faculty.

Friends also host the Annual Gene DeGruson Memorial Lecture, a series of lectures to honor the memory and work of Gene DeGruson. Starting with the 2002 Fall lecture, the event has been held on or around Mr. DeGruson's birthday, October 10th. The 8th Lecture took place on October 6th at 7PM in the Special Collections Department. Poet Jo McDougall was the featured speaker.

In addition, the Friends occasionally sponsor other lectures and events, which supplement the educational goals of Axe Library and PSU.

We also host an annual Silent Auction and have had materials donated over the years by Jay Leno, Bill Cosby, Jim Carrey, Tony Bennett, Andre Norton, Belva Plain and Jean Auel, among others. We have also had lovely paintings and sculptures donated by some of our renowned local artists such as Ted Watts, Joe Prater, Ed Babcock, Linda Lindquist Baldwin (creator of the famous Belsnickles figurines) and Greg Krepps. The 2005 Silent Auction was held on March 1st at 5:30 p.m. in the Browsing Area of the Library.

Beginning in 2006, the Friends have decided to host a different type of fundraiser: a Children's Book Festival, which will take place on April 22, 2006 from 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Authors from all over the world have been kind enough to donate a representative sample of their work usually signed and frequently decorated with a small drawing or a note. We have books which appeal to youngsters of preschool and elementary school age and others that appeal to a middle and high school audience. We will be seated in the East Lobby of the Weede gymnasium, just outside the Lance Arena. The books are not only signed but we offer at 25 percent discount. Enjoy!

In the past, The Friends have supported the purchase of classic books that are either lost, worn, or not in the collection of Axe Library. The Friends also bought a new Reference Desk, funded the publication of the campus history A Closer Look and purchased nine films in DVD format to further the development of the Library's new video collection. The Friends are particularly proud of having funded the purchase of new furniture for the Special Collections Reading Room, our most ambitious project to date. It is to these and other fine initiatives that money from the Silent Auctions has gone.

If you would like to become a member of the Friends group, please fill out this Friends application form and mail to the address listed.

The Friends kindly ask for your support. Thank you!

"A Chat Between Friends" - the Friends of Axe Newsletter

A new feature of the Friends' homepage is the Friends' newsletter A Chat Between Friends, which includes announcements of important events supported by the Friends as well as projects sustained by the Friends' funds. Issues come out quarterly, starting with Spring, 2005.