Columbia University’s Butler Library Creates an “Exclusive Circulation of Textbooks For First-Generation Low-Income Students

From The Columbia Spectator:

This semester, Butler Library created an exclusive circulation of textbooks for first-generation low-income students to lighten that burden. This effort, led by the Columbia First-Generation Low-Income Partnership [FLIP], follows six years of student organizing for a collection of textbooks for FLI students.

FLIP founded the book lending project in 2014. The student advocacy group’s collection—which consisted entirely of student donations—was first housed in a residence hall closet, before transitioning to Butler’s fourth-floor shelves in spring 2015 and expanding into the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning in fall 2018. Over summer 2019, Butler staff relocated their collection to a new area of the fourth-floor to permit future growth beyond the previous 1,000 book capacity.

During the spring 2019 semester, FLIP and Columbia University Libraries embarked on an official partnership, with the lending collection entering into the library’s official circulation this semester.

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