Karnes Library Gift Establishes Educational Legacy

Professor Merle Karnes spent her career helping people become better teachers and finding better ways to help all children learn. Her passing in February 2005, at age 89, was a loss to the College and to the entire field of special education. She may no longer be with us, but the generous donation of her personal research library to the University of Illinois Education and Social Sciences Library has ensured that Professor Karnes will still be teaching in Urbana-Champaign for generations to come.

“Her collection of textbooks, curriculum guides, kits and even games is really an amazing addition to the University Library Curriculum Collection,” said Nancy O’Brien, Education Librarian. Professor Karnes’ collection, when completely cataloged, will add about 800 unique items to one of the top educational curriculum collections in the country. The collection ranged from text books to workbooks to educational games, many of these authored by Karnes herself.

“And these will be used,” O’Brien says. “The curriculum materials are used by researchers, by historians and by students in teacher preparation programs. Professor Karnes and her family have really made a tremendous gift to both the University of Illinois, and to the field of education.”