Andersen's wife was wonderfully supportive of his bibliomania. Together, their book buying was intimately connected with book giving and support for libraries and reading. Public libraries around the state and other book concerns benefited from their support and interest. They were major benefactors of the University of Minnesota and its libraries. Much of the collection at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Library, which bears the Andersen name, is a direct result of their generosity. The gift of his personal library of 12,500 rare volumes in March 1999 was described in the Minneapolis "Star Tribune" as "a gift of the heart."