Online Edition | Washington State University | Pullman, Washington | Friday, December 14, 2001

Ask and ye shall receive...
Sometimes simply asking can produce 
grand results. School districts across 
the state have been sending Scott Walter 
books for the past month and the 
momentum is building. 
 (Photo by Bob Hubner, WSU Photo Services.)

School districts respond
Simple request yields harvest 
of donations, library growth
By Bill London, College of Education

It was a hand-glove situation waiting for the right person to make it happen. Future teachers at the College of Education need to read and evaluate the latest K-12 textbooks as part of their preparation program. Textbook publishers send samples of their latest classroom materials to the state’s school districts, where the books are inspected, and then stored unused.

Scott Walter, head librarian at the George B. Brain Education Library in Cleveland Hall, recognized the opportunity for the districts to donate the unwanted sample textbooks to his library for the benefit of WSU students.

"With the help of our dean, Judy Mitchell, I sent a letter last month to all 293 school districts in the state asking that they consider donating recent sample textbooks to our K-12 textbook collection," Walter said. "The response has been very positive. I have already received several thousand dollars worth of textbooks and supporting materials from three districts and promises of the same from a half-dozen others."

If duplicate textbooks arrive, Walter will send the extras to the branch campus libraries. These gifts will keep on giving, he added, since some districts have already pledged to donate the textbooks that will arrive in future years.

In the past, college libraries could receive sample copies from textbook publishers directly, but the publishers have eliminated the practice. Receiving donations of unwanted samples from the school districts is a win-win benefit for all concerned, he explained.