Activities of the Friends
 

Annual Meeting. The Annual A4eeting of the Friends of the
Columbia Libraries was held in the Main Reading Room of Butler
Library on the evening of Tuesday, January 28, with Mr. C.
Waller Barrett, Chairman of our Association, presiding.

During the short business session with which the meeting opened,
Mr. Barrett said that the tetms on the Council of jMr. Benjamin,
Mr. Berol, .Mr. Cousins, Mrs. Holden, and himself expired at that
meeting. He called upon Mr. Lada-AIocarski, Chairman of the
Nominating Committee, who reported that the committee wished
to nominate Messrs. Barrett, Benjamin, and Berol, Mrs. Holden,
and Mr. Francis T P. Plimpton for the three-year term which ends
in January, 1961. Upon motion and second from the floor, the
nominees were unanimously elected.

The Libraries' Two Hundredth Anniversary. At the beginning
ofthe meeting. Dr. Logsdon, the Director of Libraries, welcomed
the large number of Friends, full-time members ofthe Library staff,
faculty members, and students for this celebration ofthe Bicenten¬
nial anniversary ofthe founding ofthe Libraries. He said he was
happy that the Friends had wished to sponsor this event and spoke
with appreciation of the very substantial contribution which this
association had made to the Libraries since the group came into
existence in May, 1951. The Libraries took pleasure in coupling
with this event the first public showing of the John Jay Collection,
the acquisition of which had been made possible during the past
year largely through the active support ofthe Friends. President
Kirk, who spoke next, commented on the major role which the
Libraries play as the nerve center for the educational and teseatch
work of the University. He referred to the gtowth of the book
collections over the past 200 years from a small number of volumes
to holdings of approximately 3,000,000 books and said that today

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