New York Public Library Endowment Sets a Record
From The Wall St. Journal: (Note: Full Text Available via Google Cache)
The New York Public Library’s endowment has topped $1 billion for the first time, but it needs to grow by another $400 million to compensate for setbacks over the past decade, according to the chairman of the library’s investment committee.
The endowment stood at $1.01 billion as of Oct. 31—a milestone celebrated Wednesday at a meeting of the library’s board of trustees.
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The research library budget in 2002 was $112 million, which adjusted for inflation would be $145 million in today’s dollars, library officials say. Yet the research library budget today is $120 million—leaving a $25 million gap.
The library draws roughly 5% from its endowment each year, so an increase of $400 million to the endowment would generate $20 million in additional operating funds.
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Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries, News, Public Libraries

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.