Support the Michael Schwartz Library
Empowering Students. Enriching Learning. Preserving Cleveland's Collective Memory
The Michael Schwartz Library is so much more than books! As the heart of Cleveland State's campus, we provide access to learning and research resources, collaborative and quiet study spaces, computers, software, and loanable technology. Our expert librarians and staff are available to work with students and faculty on and off-campus, in person, via telephone, chat, text, or Zoom.
Every gift to the Michael Schwartz Library helps transform lives at Cleveland State University. Whether it's reducing textbook costs, expanding access to technology, preserving our city's history, or offering quiet space for focused study, your donation makes a lasting impact on student success and academic excellence. While no one has ever graduated from the Michael Schwartz Library, no one at CSU has ever graduated without our resources!
Our track record is impressive: we have a long history of using donations and partnerships to build collections, update technology, and enhance our facilities to ensure student success. Your gift helps ensure that CSU students and faculty have access to the research tools, facilities, unique local resources, and personalized support and guidance they need to succeed. We invite you to join us in our efforts.
CHOOSE WHERE TO MAKE AN IMPACT:
We encourage you to review our current priorities and to support what matters most to you.
The Michael Schwartz Library Annual Fund supports immediate needs and student-centered innovations. Choose this fund to use your gift where it's needed most, or designate one of the priorities below:
TEXTBOOK AFFORDABILITY | MEDITATION ROOM | LIBRARY OF THINGS | SPECIAL COLLECTIONS & CLEVELAND MEMORY | FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
- Saved students over $2 million through faculty adoption of free or low-cost resources
- Supported dozens of courses transitioning to Open Educational Resources (OER)
- Partnered with faculty to redesign courses that prioritize access and inclusivity
- Helped remove financial barriers that disproportionately affect first-generation and underserved students
- Provide grants and incentives to faculty to adopt or author open educational materials
- Host workshops and training on affordable teaching practices
- Support research and innovation in course redesign and resource development
- Create zero-cost course pathways for entire academic programs
PRIORITY: TEXTBOOK AFFORDABILITY
Help reduce student costs by funding open educational resources, providing copies of textbooks, and facilitating faculty course redesign grants.
Since its inception, Cleveland State University—and its predecessor, Fenn College—has a proud legacy of providing access to higher education for all students, regardless of financial circumstances. The Michael Schwartz Library's Affordable Learning Initiative continues this tradition by reducing the cost of textbooks and course materials, enabling students to focus on learning rather than worrying about how to afford the resources they need to succeed.
Each year, CSU students face rising textbook prices that add hundreds of dollars to the cost of their education. These costs are a barrier to equity and academic performance. In some cases, students delay or forgo purchasing required course materials—leading to lower grades, diminished engagement, and even dropping out.
Our Impact So Far
Since launching the initiative, we have:
Your Gift Makes a Difference
With your support, we can expand our efforts to:
Why It Matters
Affordable learning is more than a budget issue—it's a student success issue. Students who have timely, unrestricted access to materials are more likely to persist, perform better academically, and graduate on time.
Your donation will help eliminate barriers, enhance learning, and ensure that CSU continues to be a national leader in affordability and academic equity.
- Reduce stress and anxiety levels
- Improve emotional regulation
- Support students dealing with homesickness, grief, or academic pressures
- Enhance concentration and memory retention
- Reduce test anxiety
- Help students return to study refreshed and ready
- Offer a space for quiet prayer or spiritual reflection
- Serve neurodivergent students who may benefit from sensory regulation
- Create a culturally respectful environment for healing and care
- Encourages longer, healthier, more effective study sessions
- Signals that the university cares about holistic student success
- Builds stronger student-library relationships
PRIORITY: MEDITATION ROOM
Fund a quiet, inclusive space in the library where students can meditate, reflect, and recharge—improving mental wellness and academic performance.
Why a Meditation Room in the Library?
According to the American College Health Association, over 60% of students report feeling overwhelming anxiety. A meditation room provides a quiet, inclusive space for students to decompress, reflect, breathe, or engage in mindfulness practices—away from academic pressures and constant digital noise. It's not just a room—it's a mental reset zone.
Supports Mental Health
College students report high rates of stress, anxiety, and burnout. A dedicated space for mindfulness helps:
Improves Focus and Academic Performance
Regular mindfulness practices—even 5 minutes between classes—can:
Fosters Inclusion and Belonging
A meditation space welcomes all students, regardless of religious affiliation, background, or wellness experience. It can also:
Enhances the Library as a Student-Centered Space
Students already see the library as a place of refuge. A meditation room expands that role:
- Equity in Access: Not every student can afford a graphing calculator, a webcam, or basic tech tools — especially first-generation or disadvantaged students, and those juggling school, work, and caregiving responsibilities. We remove those barriers.
- Reduces Stress: Students shouldn't have to worry about how or where they'll practice a presentation or create a multimodal assignment.
- Promotes Academic Success:> Practical tools like whiteboards, portable projectors, or ergonomic accessories can make all the difference during finals or group projects.
- Encourages Creativity: Supplies like Cricut machines, tripods, and microphones support student-led media, design, and entrepreneurial projects.
- Purchase additional items based on student needs and feedback
- Replace and upgrade high-use items
- Promote the collection to ensure students know what's available
- Expand into new categories, such as wellness kits, crafting tools, or smart tech
PRIORITY: LIBRARY OF THINGS
Support equity by helping us lend calculators, charging cables and adaptors, film and music equipment, human skeleton models and more to help CSU students to learn, work, create, and succeed.
Because Student Success Requires More Than Books
At Cleveland State University, we believe every student deserves access to the tools they need to thrive — both in and out of the classroom. Our Library of Things at the Michael Schwartz Library is designed to meet students where they are by providing free access to essential, everyday items that support academic and personal success.
From calculators and phone chargers to ring lights, art supplies, and even noise-canceling headphones, the Library of Things is a growing collection of high-demand resources that promote equity and academic success by easing the financial burden on our students.
Why It Matters
How Your Gift Will Help
Your gift will help us:
- Student and faculty research
- Regional heritage and community identity
- Curriculum development and public exhibits
- Equity in historical storytelling
- Responsible stewardship of the irreplaceable materials entrusted to us
- Aging materials at risk of deterioration
- Limited resources for digitization and transcription
- Increasing demand for digital access and outreach
- The need to diversify collections to reflect all voices in our region's story
- Digitize and preserve fragile archival materials
- Expand public access to rare and historical resources through clevelandmemory.org
- Fund student internships and hands-on archival experience
- Support community outreach and exhibits on overlooked Cleveland stories
- Acquire new materials to build inclusive, representative collections
PRIORITY: SPECIAL COLLECTIONS & THE CLEVELAND MEMORY PROJECT
Preserve the Past. Inform and Inspire the Future. Your gift helps digitize and share rare archives, expand access to historic newspapers, and preserve the voices and experiences that shaped our region.
The Michael Schwartz Library is home to two of Cleveland's most treasured local history resources: Special Collections and the Cleveland Memory Project. Our collections document the stories, people, institutions, and events that shaped Northeast Ohio — and they are vital to preserving our region's rich cultural heritage. From rare books and historic maps to photographs, oral histories, and architectural drawings, these collections serve as a vital resource for researchers, students, journalists, artists, and the greater Cleveland community.
But preservation is not passive—it demands urgent, ongoing support. Your gift helps safeguard the past and inspire the future by ensuring these resources remain accessible and vibrant for all.
Why it matters
These collections do more than archive history — they support a broad range of curricula at CSU, contextualizing and making local history accessible and meaningful for new generations. Special Collections includes rare and archival materials on Cleveland history, urban planning, civil rights, and more. The Cleveland Memory Project is a digital initiative that brings local history to life through thousands of digitized photographs, texts, and oral histories available freely online.
Digitizing these irreplaceable primary sources both preserves the fragile materials and facilitates sharing them with researchers locally and world-wide. These twin efforts support:
Our Challenges
With your support, we can expand our efforts to:
Your Gift Can Help Us:
A Legacy Worth Preserving
Every gift is an investment in our shared memory and a more informed, connected community. With your support, we can ensure that the people, places, and events that shaped Greater Cleveland are never forgotten—and always accessible.
- Supporting student success through access to affordable learning resources
- Advocating for the library's essential role in research, learning, and equity
- Preserving and expanding treasured archives like Special Collections, and sharing those collections safely via the Cleveland Memory Project
- Strengthening relationships with and recognizing the research and expertise of our faculty through sponsorship of regular “Connect With CSU Faculty” events
- Hosting public lectures, book discussions, author events, and art exhibits
- Enhancing the library's ability to provide leading-edge services and community engagement
- Funded special acquisitions and preservation efforts
- Supported the digitization of rare collections and historical newspapers
- Brought renowned authors and scholars to campu
- Promoted civic literacy, cultural awareness, and lifelong learning for all
- Invitations to exclusive events and author talks/li>
- The Friends newsletter, featuring library highlights and initiatives
- Opportunities to engage in advocacy and volunteer efforts
- The knowledge that you're investing in the future of learning at CSU
PRIORITY: FRIENDS OF THE MICHAEL SCHWARTZ LIBRARY
Join a community of dedicated supporters who help fund events, exhibits, author talks, and other library programs that serve both campus and the community. Friends receive exclusive updates, event invitations, and recognition.
Building a Stronger Library. Enriching a Stronger Community.
At the heart of every great university is a great library. And behind every great library is a group of dedicated advocates who believe in the power of access to knowledge, preservation of history, and the success of every student.
The Friends of the Michael Schwartz Library> at Cleveland State University serve as passionate ambassadors and generous supporters of the library's mission. Their contributions help enhance learning, preserve local history, promote free and open access to information, and enrich the cultural life of both campus and community.
Why Support the Friends?
Membership in the Friends of the Library is more than a donation—it's a commitment to:
How the Friends Have Already Impacted the Library
With support from the Friends, the library has:
Benefits of Membership
Why This Matters
In a time of rising costs and shifting technologies, academic libraries rely on community support to remain vibrant, relevant, and inclusive. Your support through the Friends helps sustain a space where ideas thrive, students succeed, and Cleveland's story is preserved and shared.