It Was a Very Good Year!

Since July 1, 1995, when the "Year of the Library" began, donations of cash and pledges to the library have totaled more than $4,000,000. The most recent major gift, a $1,000,000 pledge by members of the Lauinger family, includes $800,000 to endow the Lauinger Family Preservation Fund, which will support the library's general preservation needs, as well as $200,000 to set up the Lauinger Family Endowment Fund, whose purpose is to foster Catholic values through selected library acquisitions. Preservation of the collections is also the focus of a recent $75,000 bequest from Charles and Dorothy Quest which establishes an endowment fund to support preservation of the library's collections of fine prints and other graphic arts.

These gifts augment the more than $3,000,000 in cash and pledges and approximately $500,000 in gifts-in-kind the library took in during the "Year of the Library." The largest single gift was received only this June, a partial distribution of $1,500,000 from the estate of Arnold M. Rosenthal (SFS '59), who left a similar amount to the School of Foreign Service. A second major distribution from the Rosenthal estate is expected during the current fiscal year, thus creating in the end an endowment fund of some $3,000,000 dedicated to the support of special non-budgetary library needs.

The pledged gift by the Lauinger family, together with the Quest and Rosenthal bequests, provides the library with the means to undertake serious activity in preserving the collections as well as to respond flexibly to either crisis or opportunity, whether in terms of unexpectedly necessary equipment or the possibility of acquiring a unique collection. As the library moves into its third century of service to the university and to the world of scholarship at large, these funds will provide some of the ongoing support needed for the library to fulfill its mission.

To all those Associates and others who made the "Year of the Library" such a success, and who are continuing to support the library's collections and services, we give our heartfelt thanks.