When in the course of creating clubs, libraries are often not the first avenue that comes to mind. For these innovative souls however, the University of Dallas library is not only a club, but a means to help their fellow students.
One of the greatest issues facing the modern college student is the seemingly exorbitant cost of course books, especially new ones. Additionally, since every single course uses different books, the costs add up to a significant amount over the span of eight semesters. The college student deserves another recourse. Surely, there is another way.
Enter The Groundhog Library Club. These heroes have taken pity upon their fellow college students and collaborated with the Cowan-Blakely Memorial Library, located in the Braniff building at the University of Dallas, to lend out books for free.
But, one may ask, why would a student need a middle man between themselves and the library if they can just do it themselves? The answer, of course, lies in how the library works. Since the Cowan-Blakely has a limited stock of books and can only rent them out for two weeks at a time, most students weigh the hassle as simply not worth the potential money to be saved.
However, simply contacting a group and renting books for a full semester from them is far more palatable. The Groundhog Library Club has willingly surrendered themselves to this fate. They have sacrificed their free time to assist their fellow students in their quests for higher education at an affordable price.
In short, this club lends out core textbooks to students, especially those who need the help. Currently, Jacob Rombs, a philosophy and Italian double major, serves as president of the club.
“It was originally developed as a club to help financially struggling students,” said Rombs. However, their inventory is increasing and the goal is to expand enough to serve every student.
Of course, one ought not sprint towards the library — as an alarmingly large number of students seem to do — and beg this gracious club for free books. Since they are purely non-profit, they lack the inventory to lend out large amounts of books as well as the budget to order substantially more. Thus, the best thing the UD student can do is wait. Look to the omnipresent Stall Street Journal for upcoming events, or consider donating your own unused core books for the betterment of UD society.
While, the club is only around three years old and as of now is still small, the Tower is the limit as these wonderful people have offered themselves up on the altar of philanthropy to help the UD students that need it.
February 16 correction: The library’s name spelling was corrected to “Cowan-Blakely” and the article has been updated to reflect the fact that books are not rented out, but lent out to students.
