In most cases, it is the responsibility of the donor to arrange for delivery of books and other material to the Canizaro Library. Please ensure that all books and other items are in boxes or sturdy bags with your name, address and phone number attached. In order to begin the process of making a gift-in-kind donation, please complete the Gift-in-Kind contribution form which can also be obtained from the Canizaro Library at the Circulation Desk. Items may be delivered directly to the Main Circulation/Reference Desk, first floor of the Canizaro Library, whenever the Library is open.
It is the policy of the Canizaro Library to accept selected gifts following an evaluation of the gift materials. Included in this policy is the understanding that the Library reserves the right to refuse any materials that the Library staff deems to be inappropriate for the collections or which duplicate current holdings. All donated items become the permanent property of Â鶹´«Ã½¸²Ãð¼Ç, and the Library assumes the responsibility of determining the retention, placement within the collection, location, cataloging treatment, and any other considerations relating to the use and disposition of the materials.
Due to space limitations and preservation practices, the Library is unable to accept the following materials:
Individuals wishing to make a donation of materials should contact the Circulation Desk at (239) 280-2557.
Rare books, scholarly works, or works on out-of-the-way or little-known topics are often a good fit for the library. We are also glad to have new books, and replacements for items missing from our shelves.
Donors must have the donated materials delivered to:
Canizaro Library
Â鶹´«Ã½¸²Ãð¼Ç
5251 Donahue Street
Ave Maria, FL 34142.
Normally the University cannot provide or pay for transporting donations to the Library. Â If you have particularly valuable materials (appraised at over $500 per item), we may be willing to pay for transportation.
Dr. John C. Willke, president of Life Issues Institute, donated an extensive collection to the Â鶹´«Ã½¸²Ãð¼Ç Library. Not only has he donated over 1000 books, he also included a number of pamphlets, film strips, videos, audio cassettes, and other materials. The collection covers a wide array of topics, but focuses on marriage, relationships, and human sexuality from a Catholic perspective. With everything from teaching guides to graduate level texts, Dr. Willke’s collection makes a wonderful addition to the Library.
William Talbot retired as Editor-in-Chief of Samuel French, Inc., a publishing company that pioneered the concept of providing published plays and musical plays to theatrical producing groups throughout the world. Because of his unique career, he was able to amass a large assortment of plays and playbills which he generously donated to the Library. In addition to the extensive collection of Samuel French publications, his collection included numerous books on the theater, drama, and the performing arts that Mr. Talbot collected during his career teaching playwriting at Columbia, City College of New York, Hunter College and Double Image Theater. He wrote under the pen name William Francis and his play, Portrait of a Queen was produced on Broadway and London’s West End. When he was alive, Mr. Talbot read over 100,000 plays and launched the careers of many new playwrights. He also saw almost every play that was produced in New York between 1960 and 2000. In addition to books related to the theater, his donation also included an array of literature and history.  We were saddened to hear of Mr. Talbot’s passing in 2006.
Daniel Pastor was a retired Air Force Major living in Vermont. He studied theology at the University of San Francisco and then spent some years as a teacher in Idaho. His military life was spent all over the world: Africa, Middle East, India, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan and Venice. For a number of years, he gifted the Library with a box of books almost daily. He donated a great and varied multitude of literature, psychology, archaeology, and history books. We were saddened to hear that Mr. Pastor passed away on March 29th, 2008. Â May he rest peacefully in the eternal grace of God.
The Honorable Michael Novak was a theologian, author, and former U.S. ambassador, who was the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he was Director of Social and Political Studies. He donated a very large collection of books – numbering in the thousands – to the Â鶹´«Ã½¸²Ãð¼Ç Library. Mr. Novak’s collection covered a wide range of topics, including theology, government, armed conflict, business, human rights, and more. In addition, Mr. Novak has donated copies of many of his own writings to our collection. Mr. Novak passed away in early 2017.
Fr. Peter Milward, S.J. is a writer and university professor emeritus  living in Tokyo. He has written extensively on religious controversies of the Elizabethan and Jacobean age and on English literature, most notably on Gerard Manley Hopkins and William Shakespeare. He is president of the Hopkins Society of Japan, and his work Shakespeare the Papist is an important and thought-provoking contribution to the discussion of Shakespeare’s religion. His long residence in Japan (where he was ordained in 1960) and his wide travels have made him uniquely able to provide a bridge of understanding between East and West, and he has produced many essays and short works giving his impressions of Japan and interpreting Western culture and Christianity to Japanese readers. We are fortunate to be the recipients of a donation from Fr. Milward of a complete collection of these works of cultural interpretation published in Japan. They constitute a valuable new chapter in the long and honorable story of the Society of Jesus in Asia.
Fr. Matthew Lamb was among the most generous donors of scholarly books to the University Library. Father Lamb was Professor of Theology and Chairman of the Theology Department at the University.  He previously taught at Boston College, and before that at Marquette University. He held the degrees of S.T.L. from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and Dr.Theo. from the State University of Münster in Germany. Father’s gifts numbered in the many thousands on a wide variety of topics that are of interest to both students and faculty, and greatly increased the depth and the range of our theology collection. Fr. Lamb passed away in early 2018.
Carl F. Ellwanger was an attorney who resided in Stuart, Florida. He personally ventured to Naples and Ave Maria a number of times to deliver his donations to the Â鶹´«Ã½¸²Ãð¼Ç Library. Not only did he donate nearly 2,000 books, most of them were in mint condition regardless of their age. Thanks to Mr. Ellwanger, our World War II and American Civil War collections swelled. In addition, thanks to Mr. Ellwanger’s generous donation, we were able to expand our collection into areas previously unrepresented, such as the history of the American West, railroads, and military aircraft, just to name a few. Our DVD and video collection also benefited with the addition of several history sets including The Civil War by Ken Burns and The American Revolution set by A&E. Mr. Ellwanger passed away in early 2017.
Â鶹´«Ã½¸²Ãð¼Ç’s new library, located on its permanent campus in Ave Maria, Fla., is called the ‘Canizaro Library.’  The name Canizaro is in recognition of the generous gift made by Joseph and Sue Ellen Canizaro of New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Canizaro Library is a three-story, 95,000 square foot facility that houses the university’s 220,000 volume collection.  Currently the third floor of the Library houses administration offices — until an administrative building is built.  Upon completion of the administrative building, the library will have the capacity to accommodate more than 400,000 volumes.  The Canizaro Library can seat 400 users simultaneously.
The building’s benefactor, Joseph Canizaro, is president and CEO of Columbus Properties, L.P., a commercial real estate development company which he founded and is headquartered in New Orleans.  He founded and currently co-chairs the Committee for a Better New Orleans, which is a group of more than 100 community and business activists and leaders that address and develop proposals for improving various aspects of the New Orleans community.
Canizaro is also president and founder of the New Orleans chapter of Legatus, an international organization of practicing Catholic CEOs, as well as a member and secretary of the National Legatus Board of Directors. Â He also serves the Archbishop of New Orleans as a member of the Archdiocese Finance Council.
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5050 Ave Maria Blvd., Ave Maria, FL 34142