Friends of the Library promote membership

I have logged my fair share of time in Firestone, but I still have a lingering suspicion that behind some door in the building's nether regions, there are students in cabled sweater vests getting incredible kicks from things, about which I will never know.

Luckily, those doors will soon be opened, or at least made more accessible. A host of students and library employees are breathing new life into the Student Friends of the Library. Its parent organization, Friends of the Library, has had a student counterpart for many years, but this division of the group has not been well publicized.

Friends of the Library, an organization dedicated to supporting the acquisitions and operations of Firestone Library, was founded in 1930 and now boasts more than 800 members around the world. These members make and secure gifts to the library in order to provide funds for purchases, to sponsor special programs and to offer a few fellowships and awards. Friends are also invited to participate in a variety of activities during the academic year, such as exhibition openings, lectures, gala dinners, workshops on topics such as preservation, bookbinding and print collecting, workshops for children in the Cotsen Children's Library and tours of Firestone's lesser known facilities.

Students who choose to join will receive all the benefits of membership, including invitations to special events and a subscription to the Library Chronicle. The student members can also organize new events that are of particular interest to undergraduates and graduates.

Lisa Dunkley '83, who graduated from Princeton with a degree in English and American Studies, has been interested in developing the Student Friends of the Library ever since she started working at the university. She was not a student member as an undergraduate, but the exposure to Firestone's rare collections that she gained while writing her thesis and her membership after graduation made her realize how much she would have enjoyed the benefits of this organization during her undergraduate days. Dunkley, the organization's restricted funds researcher and editor, and Randy Hill '72, the membership chair, decided that the group's upcoming 75th anniversary — which will be celebrated in the 2005-06 school year — was an ideal time to reinvigorate the Student Friends of the Library.

Several undergraduates have also been involved in the planning stages. Last November at the Elmer Adler Book Collecting Prize information session, the students present were asked to participate in the group's awakening. Interested students are encouraged to take leadership roles in the organization as well.

Ultimately, the group hopes to give students greater access to the many interesting and unusual items and services Firestone has to offer. There are numismatics, death masks, maps, printing blocks, photographs, rare children's books, Woodrow Wilson's eyeglasses and much more. In addition, students will be able to learn about the personal collections of Firestone's curators and the special resources the library has, such as the services available to students studying abroad.

Interested students should attend the group's first meeting today at 4:30 p.m. or contact Lisa Dunkley, Elizabeth Linder '07 or Asheesh Siddique '07 for more information.