By the numbers

The Duke University Libraries have combined collections of 5.6 million books. Among the additional holdings are 17.7 million manuscripts, 1.2 million public documents, and tens of thousands of journals, films, videos, and audio recordings. An array of resources is available electronically, including more than 30,000 journals.

Highlights

The Libraries hosted Duke Plays: The Party, a student-organized event that featured an exhibit built around the themes of activism, the arts, athletics, and romance to highlight student life through the decades. More than 2,000 students, faculty, alumni, university administrators, trustees, and staff attended.

In partnership with the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the Libraries established an archive that will preserve the festival’s award-winning films.

Working with the Graduate School and other campus units, the University Archives launched DukeSpace, a digital repository providing access to electronically submitted Duke dissertations, master's papers, university records, and other related digital content managed by the Archives.

The Libraries celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of the J. Walter Thompson Archives at Duke and the 15th anniversary of the creation of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.

Award and recognition

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded $500,000 to Duke University to support the development of a portal to provide integrated access to three major papyrological databases, including the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri.

Lease of Land, [140/139 B.C.], in Greek, from the Duke Papyrus Archive

Faculty and staff appointments

Holly Ackerman, librarian for Latin America and Iberia, came to Duke from the University of Miami.

Debra Hanken Kurtz, head of the Digital Projects Department, came to Duke from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Heidi Madden, librarian for Western Europe, came to Duke from the Triangle Research Libraries Network.

Tom Moore, head of the Music Library, came to Duke from the University of Rio de Janeiro.

Patrick Stawski, human rights archivist, came to Duke from the archives of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Mary Walter, assistant director of development, came to Duke from the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Luo Zhou, librarian for Chinese studies, came to Duke from the University of Pittsburgh.

Ernest (“Erik”) Zitser, librarian for Slavic and Eastern European studies, came to Duke from Harvard University.

Major gifts

Notable contributions to the Libraries include gifts from Eleanore Jantz, Rick and Patty Jones, Renie and Bill McCutchen, Monique and Robert Odell, Rick and Nancy Riess, and Barry and Sylvia Tarasoff.

In the fall of 2006, a transformed first floor of Perkins opened as the center of public services for the West Campus libraries after being closed for a year of complete renovation and reconfiguration. Photo credit: Mark M. Zupan