Preliminary Inventory of the Friends of Duke University Library records, 1935-1987

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Descriptive Summary

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Administrative Information

Access Restrictions Use Restrictions Preferred Citation Provenance Processing Information [top]

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Historical Note

The Friends of the Duke University Library promote understanding and gather financial support of the work of the Duke University Libraries. The Friends host serveral events to highlight the scholarship, community, and fellowship within the Duke University Library system. The Engaging Faculty Series of four lectures each academic year features interdisciplinary conversations with Duke faculty scholars. Friends' Dinner and Annual Meeting, held each spring, has included Duke parents and contemporary authors. The Friends also hold occasional book sales to benefit the Preservation Endowment.

Many of the Friends of the Library events focus on students. In alternate years, the Friends of the Library and the Gothic Bookshop co-sponsor an essay contest and a book collectors contest, which are open to undergraduates and graduate students. The Lionel Stevenson Essay contest honors the memory of a member of the English faculty, and rewards the writer of the best essay with a Gothic Bookshop gift certificate. The Jeremy North Book Collectors Contest, named for the first manager of the Gothic Bookshop, recognizes the efforts of student book collectors with a prize in both an undergraduate and a graduate category. Each semester the Friends host a study break in the Perkins Library lobby during exams, serving baked goods contributed by members. About 200 students attend the study break each semester.

A contribution to any library fund benefits the library and confers membership in the Friends. However, several funds are directed exclusively to Friends projects and activities: Friends Book Fund, Preservation Endowment, and Unrestricted Friends Support. The Friends Book Fund is used to make major acquisitions for the library's collections. With the Friends Book Fund the library typically purchases resources that will support interdisciplinary research or that will enrich collections being developed in response to the establishment of new academic programs. The Friends Book Fund has underwritten the acquisition of an array of resources, including materials to support special research needs of faculty, art books for the Lilly Library, significant electronic resources such as HarpWeek, CDs for the Music Media Center, and books on various subjects for the Perkins circulating collection. The Friends Preservation Endowment supports the library's program to preserve its collections for the use of current and future generations of students and scholars. Gifts to the Unrestricted Friends Support funds underwrite programming, occasional publications, and other activities that further the outreach efforts of the Friends of the Duke University Libraries.

The Duke University Friends of the Library is run by seven-member Executive Committee and one student representative. The student representative is elected for a term of two years. The University Librarian is also an ex-officio voting member.

The libraries of Duke University consist of the William R. Perkins Library and its seven branches on campus: Biological and Environmental Sciences, Chemistry, Lilly, Engineering, Music, Mathematics-Physics, Special Collections; the Pearse Memorial Library at the Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort; and the independently administered libraries of Divinity, Law, Medicine, and Business (Ford Library). As of June 1996, these libraries contained over 4,534,000 volumes. The collection includes eleven million manuscripts, and over two million public documents. The Libraries are directed by the Vice Provost for Library Affairs.

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Collection Overview

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Subject Headings

• Academic libraries--North Carolina--Durham.
• Duke University. Library.
• Friends of Duke University Library.
• Library fund raising.

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Related Material

	List of Series in Collection
		Container List:

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Preliminary Description of the Collection

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• Descriptive Summary
• Administrative Information
• Historical Note
• Collection Overview
• Subject Headings
• Related Material
• Preliminary Description of the Collection