In preparation for a full building renovation, Iowa State’s College of Design hosted a $1 book sale in efforts to help faculty clear space and raise funds for The Design Closet.

The dollar book sale took place Monday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the College of Design Foyer. The event was orchestrated by Ingrid Lilligren, an art and visual culture professor and chair of the operations committee.

“The College of Design is doing this wonderful remodeling of all the offices over the summer, so faculty have to move out 100 percent of their offices,” Lilligren said. “I was sitting here thinking with everybody, and I said, ‘Let’s have a book sale.’” 

Lilligren said that her fellow faculty members were quick to support the idea and help turn the first-ever event of its kind into a reality.

“Then I decided, ‘Let’s make all the books $1,” Lilligren said. “It’s all just been great, and people are so gratified to be able to know that their books are going to be going to students who are going to love them.”

In addition to helping faculty clear their offices in preparation for the remodel, the event’s proceeds went to a charitable cause, The Design Closet. An entity of Iowa State’s College of Design, The Design Closet works to provide free and reduced-cost supply kits to students in the first-year design and drawing studios, according to the College of Design website.

“Even though we live in a very wealthy country, lots and lots of people come to school with just enough money to get by and our supplies can be expensive,” Lilligren said. “So we created The Design Closet, which is something that anybody can donate to, and it does this important job of making sure that students have the resources that they need to be successful.”

Nicholas Senske, an associate professor of architecture, also helped oversee Monday’s event and manage sales.

“We’re really just trying to see if we can pare down some of the books that we’ve accumulated over the past few decades,” Senske said. “I’ve even got a few boxes of books in here as well, but there’s just stuff that’s just taking up space and this is giving folks a chance to see some of the things that we’ve had.”

Senske said that while most of the books were design-oriented, there was a wide range of disciplines and subject matters, including photography, anthropology and fashion design.

“The Design Closet was established for students experiencing economic hardship, or just needing some extra help,” Senske said. “It’s extra supplies or things like paper, different kinds of media, or things like tape, scissors, glue, but that’s something a lot of scholarships and aid don’t really cover, so that’s something that we started and wanted to support here today.”

Both Senske and Lilligren said the event achieved tremendous success and that roughly 80% of the books had already been purchased by students and visitors.

“I’ve got to see some of my books go to other people, and I’ve had some of them for like 20 years,” Senske said. “It’s a way to really express our solidarity with our students, that we’re here to help them out and make sure that they’re successful and provide them with that physical support.”