“Since we've started the drive in this manner, we've been able to purchase … over 2,400 books and we've raised over $27,000 towards it,” said Dan DiMaggio, director of student engagement and co-creator of Stuff the Library. “Those are funds primarily raised from students and faculty and staff to give back to the community.”

This year, the school district receiving the donations is Lansing Public Schools. 

Center of Community Engaged Learning Assistant Director KC Keyton was once a student in Lansing Schools. As one of the people who came up with the idea for Stuff the Library, he is excited to have a close connection to where these books are going. 

“We had limited access to some of these titles and the biggest thing is inclusive titles, so seeing people of color in books and seeing a wide variety of topics and people of color and things like that," Keyton said. "I think it's important for school age children, K-12 to see.”

MSU communicates directly with Lansing School District to ensure that the books purchased using the donations they receive match what the district is looking for. 

“We go based off need,” Keyton said. “We ask them what books, what titles do teachers want? What books are kids asking about? ... And so they always curate a list for us and then send it to us. And all the money we raise, we buy those specific titles and those specific books.”

Some of the books on their list include more advanced chapter books like “Yo no soy tu Perfecta Hija Mexicana” by Erika L. Sánchez and picture books for younger students like “Tracks in the Snow” by Wong Herbert Yee. 

At the end of the donation period, all of the funds raised through the book drive are spent at a local bookstore. Hooked, an independent bookstore located in East Lansing, will be partnering with the Stuff the Library drive to provide the books. 

“I really appreciate what they're trying to do here, and honestly appreciate that they're interested in buying from a local bookstore when they do this, they don't have to do that,” Hooked owner and MSU professor Sarah Reckhow said. 

“We're able to offer them a discount, so hopefully that helps in terms of making the money go farther,” she said. “… I think, in a lot of ways, the whole circle is supporting the community in a variety of ways, and we’re just really happy to be a part of that.”

The intention of Stuff the Library has always been to ensure a greater diversity of literature in school districts across Michigan. Hooked follows this goal through its fundraising and donation efforts, Reckhow said, and their in-store collection. 

“Part of it is about just motivating kids to read and to get curious about books and to read more,” she said. “And it can help when kids see kids who look like them on the cover, see issues that maybe they've dealt with in their own lives.”

Stuff the Library is a large collaborative effort of community members, and as the drive continues over the years, DiMaggio said that engagement grows.  

“We are definitely getting more and more people involved with it, and we see a pretty consistent number of alumni continuing to participate,” DiMaggio said. “But we also see, for what is mainly a financial campaign, we see a good number of students donating to it, as well as dropping off books.”

Book donations can be dropped off at the MSU Food Bank in Olin Health Center and monetary donations can be given online through the drive’s Crowd Power page. There is also an Amazon wishlist that community members can make donations through. 

Since the drive began earlier this month, donations have amounted to $3,860 of the drive’s $5,000 goal.