Columbia Library columns (v.34(1984Nov-1985May))

(New York :  Friends of the Columbia Libraries.  )

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  v.34,no.2(1985:Feb): Page 19  



Building on Butler                                 19

the second floor. When one walks towards the glass doors at the
entrance of the Library one first sees the Alan and A'largaret
Kempner exhibition room, inviting one to enter and to view the
rare editions, manuscripts and drawings that are on exhibit. Enter¬
ing the Library and looking to the west one sees, through the
glass walls, students and scholars in the reading rooms studying
the rare materials that range from cuneiform tablets and Renais¬
sance manuscripts to files of correspondence and papers of states¬
men and authors such as John Jay and Stephen Crane. Looking
beyond these rooms and along the row of exhibition cases one's
attention is drawn finally to the tiers of portraits on the west wall
of the Donors Room. The atmosphere of openness welcomes the
student and scholat and demonstrates to the visitor the research
activities which are the primary mission of the Library.

After decades of ill-suited and make-shift quarters, the Rare
Book and .A'lanuscript Library now has its new home. Patience
and thought over a long period have given us the opportunity to
avoid the preciosity that is often associated with rare books and
manuscripts, and to focus our plans firmly on both the collector
and the scholar who assist and enhance one another's endeavors
through the medium of the research library. By building on
Butler Library and enlarging a venerable half-century old facility
we have remained within the center of the University's research,
and we have strengthened the Libraries' ever growing potential
for scholarship.
  v.34,no.2(1985:Feb): Page 19