Strengthened Teaching and Research Support

Our Research & Public Services division facilitated 409 library instruction sessions for the year—a 33% increase over FY24—and supported more than 2,100 research consultations, despite staffing and budget challenges. Likewise, Rubenstein Library staff conducted 209 instruction sessions and welcomed 2,653 researcher visits to the reading room, an 11% increase. We also increased or strengthened collaborations with more than a dozen teaching and learning partners across campus, including the FOCUS Program, Academic Advising, the Thompson Writing Program, Undergraduate Research Support, the Graduate School, the Pratt School of Engineering, and QuadEx/Academic Guides. 

Systemwide Technology Transformation

FY25 marked the first full year using Alma as the Libraries’ core services platform, following a major migration in July 2024. Most large research libraries like Duke’s use back-end systems like Alma to handle the everyday work of library staff, including everything from checking out books to managing thousands of databases. Staff across Collections Services, Rubenstein Library, and Digital Strategies & Technology optimized workflows, cleaned migrated data, integrated authentication systems, and prepared for the next discovery layer, Primo, to be implemented in FY26. The goal is to simplify discovery for library users and reduce the number of software platforms we currently support.

Growth in Digital Access and Preservation

The Libraries processed 79 new Duke datasets in the Research Data Repository and 201 new digitized collections in the Duke Digital Repository, which has become our second most visited library website, just behind library.duke.edu. The Rubenstein Library continued to provide robust patron-driven digitization, delivering almost 60,000 scans of archival material to researchers, while also advancing large-scale digitization projects, including more than 6,000 nitrate film elements—making these rare and unique materials freely accessible to researchers worldwide while ensuring their preservation for future generations. Digital reproduction requests remained strong in FY25, well above pre-pandemic levels.

Campus Engagement and Visibility

FY25 was a lively year for impactful public programs across the Libraries—including exhibitions, workshops, and National Library Week events—that drew broad participation and highlighted our central role in campus life. A year-long exhibition celebrating the Duke Centennial highlighted student voices, grappled with difficult aspects of Duke history, and complemented other initiatives on campus. Centennial activities also increased requests for archival reproductions, instruction, reference, and public programming. Meanwhile, our messaging reached tens of thousands through digital channels, including our biweekly newsletter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, boosting engagement with library users.

Stewardship of Distinctive Collections

The Rubenstein Library acquired significant new collections that further diversify our distinctive collecting areas—including additions to the Danny Lyon Archive, Leslie Feinberg Papers, Joel Fleishman Papers, Thomas Bashore collection of medical instruments and artifacts, Crowing Rooster Arts documentary film collection on Haiti, and Pauli Murray Center records. At the same time, we cataloged and processed slightly more than we acquired, reducing backlogs and opening more collections up to researchers eager to use them.

Fundraising and Donor Support

Development efforts reached a record‑breaking $1.177M in unrestricted donations to the Libraries Annual Fund (9% increase over FY24) and $7.439M in total cash. We also helped to launch “Made for This: The Duke Campaign” after years of preparation, having raised $76.7M of our total $125M goal (61%) by the end of FY25. Donor participation and stewardship remain points of pride for the Libraries, allowing us to say yes to more opportunities and make a lasting impact on students during their academic journey at Duke. 

Supporting the New Duke Curriculum  

This year’s class of incoming Duke undergraduates are the first to navigate the new Trinity curriculum—the university’s first significant curriculum overhaul in 25 years—designed to enhance the first-year experience and encourage exploration across academic disciplines. Our Research & Public Services division collaborated with the Undergraduate Curriculum Implementation Committee to ensure that a librarian is now paired with every First‑Year Constellation, strengthening student support from the start of their academic journey. The Rubenstein Library also continued to integrate special collections into the student experience—roughly half (48%) of researchers in the Rubenstein reading room are Duke undergraduate and graduate students.

Expanding Access to In-Demand Digital Resources  

The Libraries introduced campus-wide access to the New York Times and The Atlantic for all Duke students, faculty, and staff, integrating single sign‑on authentication and providing clear onboarding instructions for users. We regularly receive requests for the New York Times and Atlantic for personal and classroom use and are pleased to make these popular resources available to the Duke community. Usage has been particularly strong with Duke students, who appreciate the personal financial savings as well as the in-depth reporting.

Preserving and Showcasing Cultural Heritage  

Rubenstein Library exhibitions—such as American Monuments: The Photography of Kris Graves; The Scientific Vision of Women; and “A Worthy Place”: Durham, Duke, and the World of the 1920s-1930s—reached wide audiences and engaged students in archival research and curatorial practice. Additionally, our Librarian for Japanese Studies and Asian American Studies partnered with faculty and graduate students at UNC to co-curate a popular exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh on the life and times of Japanese samurai.

Innovation in AI and Open Access  

The Libraries continued to provide leadership on campus around evolving technologies like generative artificial intelligence, including an internal AI Fundamentals workshop series to help all library staff learn the basics of AI and explore its potential applications. We also collaborated with partners in Duke Learning Innovation and Lifetime Education to develop a new AI Ethics Learning Toolkit, a new resource that invites students and faculty to ask big questions about AI’s impact on knowledge, creativity, and society. Finally, we helped launch Duke Law professor James Boyle’s newest book, The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood, the latest recipient of the Duke Open Monograph Award, funded by the Duke Libraries to facilitate greater access to Duke faculty scholarship through open access publishing.

Community Engagement and Inclusion

With support from The Duke Endowment and Duke family foundations, we launched a new Community Engagement Program to strengthen relationships with local cultural heritage organizations and neighborhoods, expand access to Rubenstein Library collections and services for local communities, and increase the Duke community’s awareness of Durham history and culture. We also revived our popular Black Lives in Archives annual open house, and organized two on-the-road events (in Washington, DC, and Atlanta, GA) promoting the Movement History Initiative. Meanwhile, our visual diversity initiatives introduced new artwork representing Black and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in library spaces.

Advancing Sustainable and Strategic Collections  

Our Collections Services division led the creation and adoption of a new library-wide Collection Development Strategy, a framework that provides clear direction for future acquisitions and collection investments, including new collecting policies for distinctive collections and teaching collections in the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The new strategy prioritizes digital over print and other analog formats whenever possible, minimizes the duplication of formats, explores new models of evidence-based collection development and “just in time” demand-driven acquisition, and leverages open-access (OA) resources and Open Educational Resources.

Ramping Up to Lilly’s Reopening

Construction work on the Lilly Library renovation and expansion project continued on schedule, with an anticipated opening in late 2026. In the meantime, library staff organized three furniture fairs to gather input from students, staff, and faculty on furniture options for the renovated Lilly. The Music Library, which has expanded services to support East Campus library users while Lilly is closed, saw increased usage a pickup location for library materials, as well as increased use of study and instructional spaces. 

Comings and Goings

Visitors to Perkins, Bostock, and Rubenstein Libraries: 1,349,495
Average visits per minute: 2.5
Month with most visits: April 2025 (186,708)

Scan and Deliver

Digitized items viewed in the Duke Digital Repository: 1,236,151
Views per day: 3,386

More to Check Out

Mary Duke Biddle Room exhibit visitors: 10,964

Instructive Information

Duke courses supported through library course reserves: 736

Visual Learners

Attendees in data and visualization workshops: 1,262