“If this was just a regular book collection, we could clear some shelf space,” said Amanda Melilli, Associate Professor and head of UNLV’s Teacher Development & Resources Library (TDRL)—but it’s not. Navigating how to steward the generous $1 million endowment from the late Douglas Dunn, is the monumental task ahead of Amanda and co-librarian and Professor Samantha Godbey. Working together to curate the Dunn Family Assessment Collection is an exciting opportunity for the pair. 

Help from an Unexpected Source

The Dunns were neither native Nevadans, nor alumni and their children did not attend UNLV. Rather, Doug and Karen were retirees to the desert and champions for education who considered UNLV a worthy place to continually honor the work of their parents, Lloyd and Leota Dunn, who wrote the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and other assessment tools still widely used today. 

The Dunn Family Foundation pledged their first major gift in 2017, creating the Dunn Family Chair in Educational Assessment Fund. While this initial donation supports research on assessment for a faculty member within the College of Education, the need for advancing and providing access to additional assessment resources to learners and local educators persisted. 

“I’ve been here 12 years now, and people have asked me for an assessment collection every year,” said Samantha. The Dunns answered the call again, this time preparing an endowment fund donated in perpetuity to build something meaningful and sustainable.  Without it, “we wouldn't be able to have this type of collection because assessment resources are so expensive and ever evolving.” added Amanda.

A Never-Ending Collection

Once the collection is available, it will never truly be finished. The genre is active, with new assessment resources constantly being developed and updated. Amanda explained that, “there will always be new things that we can add, and we will be actively maintaining the collection over time.”

Building such a new and dynamic resource collection takes a lot of planning and flexibility. The Dunn Family Assessment Collection will feature both digital and print tests, tools, books, and guides, requiring varying degrees of care. This year, Amanda and Samantha are focused on research, finding out how other libraries across the world are handling similar collections. They are also working closely with the libraries’ acquisitions department on ordering and cataloging these new materials. “We need to institute new procedures and management protocols—plan out the physical space in the TDRL and how these materials will be secured. Once those are in place, we can begin ordering materials.” Amanda laid out. 

The structure of the endowment allows for flexibility in how funds can be spent. This component provides opportunities for the team to invest in professional development, and eventually bring on a graduate assistant to help facilitate collection staffing needs.

When available, the Dunn Family Assessment Collection will be a community resource housed in the TDRL. In line with the library’s mission, the collection will cater primarily to the needs of College of Education students, providing tools to expand the knowledge of future educators so that they can access the most contemporary materials that may not be on their radar. A few elements of it will also be accessible to faculty and local in-service teachers. “There's not really a collection like this in Southern Nevada,” Amanda marveled looking forward to getting the work started.