Give to the Library

Recent Gifts and Their Impact

World-Class Dickens Collection

The Daniel and Alice Ryan Collection on Charles Dickens will be a transformative addition to WPI’s own Dickens collection, where it will significantly augment the Robert D. Fellman Dickens Collection and create a world-class resource for students, Dickens scholars, and readers. Robert D. Fellman's gift in 1995 included a complete collection of the original published versions of all of Dickens’s novels; the addition of the Ryan Collection will make WPI's one of the most comprehensive collections of letters written by members of Dickens’s inner circle.

Read More about the Ryan Collection on Charles Dickens

Image of Director Emerita Helen Shuster at the opening of the Shuster Lab.

Helen Shuster Digital Scholarship Lab

Library Director Emerita Helen Shuster helped usher in a digital age at Gordon Library. Now her gift has inspired WPI’s first digital scholarship lab, which opened in Fall 2018: a new space to teach and learn together about using transformative digital tools to address new questions and share knowledge in new ways.

Class of 1970 Café

In honor of their 40th reunion, the Class of 1970 made a generous gift that brought this popular café into the heart of the library in 2010. Celebrating its 10th birthday this year, the Class of 1970 Café is a favorite spot for a quick meal, a restful break, and a great cup of coffee. World newspapers and the café art gallery featuring art by students and faculty add to the café’s ambience. Students love it: “The café is the best place for breakfast and the staff are so friendly!” The Café is currently closed, with a planned reopening in 2022.

Find Café Hours and Information

Lightpainting Honors Alumnus

“The Definition of Possible” is a gift from Phi Gamma Delta fraternity that honors Walter Knapp '38, a longtime advisor to the fraternity who was active on the President’s Council and was the first alumnus selected for WPI's Senior Honorary Society Skull. The first artwork of its kind on any Massachusetts campus, the Lightpainting installed in 2014 over the entrance to Gordon Library was created by Stephen Knapp, a Worcester native and Walter's son.

Class of 2015 Mosaic

The Class of 2015 raised funds to honor the memory of Patrick Degenhardt ’17, with an endowed scholarship. With class donations and a generous contribution from Patrick’s parents, Shelden and Cheryl Degenhardt, and his brother Adam ’15, they also donated an illuminated mosaic of the WPI seal inside the entrance of the Gordon Library, dedicated in memory of classmate John Kamau Muthee ’15, and designed and created by the Boston-based firm Artaic.

Naming Opportunities

The library in my four years here has gotten better and better over time which has been very pleasant to see. I think if anything just more workspaces would be really nice with increasing numbers of students.

Student Survey, 2019

Spaces in the library is the major shortcoming. If the library could add another floor…

Student Survey, 2019

Each year WPI students and faculty make Gordon Library their home away from home. Of all the things they need from us, more space is their biggest desire!

Today we have 750 seats where WPI students can work, meet, and study – but they need more. As our student population grows with WPI programs and research over the next five years, we are committed to adding up to 100 new seats in the library for those future students: spaces that are modern, welcoming, quiet, well-lighted, and full of inspiring company.

To help fund this dream, we are offering new naming opportunities for our most visible, innovative, and well-used library spaces. By ‘paying it forward’ you can help us realize our dream and serve the needs of all future students at WPI.

For more information about available naming opportunities, contact Anna Gold, University Librarian, akgold@wpi.edu, or Diane Begreen, Library Operations Manager, dbegreen@wpi.edu.

Please consider naming a Gordon Library space today!

Make a Gift

Make a gift to the library online with a credit card on WPI’s giving web page.

To make a gift supporting the Gordon Library, please:
- choose the "other designation, write-in" option from the drop-down menu
- choose the amount you wish to give and proceed to payment
- at the end of the credit card form, there's a place to specify your other designation.
  - to support the Library, please specify "Library Gift Fund" (11609-GF)
  - to support WPI Archives & Special Collections, please specify "Library Archives and Special Collections Fund" (11311-GF)

To learn about other ways of making a gift to the library, please contact Diane Begreen in the Library Administration Office, dbegreen@wpi.edu, 508-831-6003. To discuss an idea for a gift, please contact the University Librarian, Anna Gold, akgold@wpi.edu, or Assistant Director for Archives & Special Collections, Arthur Carlson, alcarlson@wpi.edu.

Gifts in Kind: For information about making gifts in kind to the library, please read the Gordon Library's gifts in kind policy.