Duke University: $10 Million Grant Brings Lilly Library Transformation Closer

From Duke Today:

For first-year students living on Duke University’s East Campus, Lilly Library may be their first foray into academic research. The library and its staff help them understand how to make their way through the resources available to them and prepare them for the rest of their time at Duke. But, as a vital piece of Duke for almost a century, it’s beginning to show its age.

In support of the proposed renovation and expansion of Lilly Library, Duke has received $10 million, President Vincent E. Price announced Friday [October 1].

The grant from The Duke Endowment, a private foundation based in Charlotte, N.C., will support the first significant renovation of the library since it was built.

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Construction on the project was originally slated to begin in summer 2020 but was delayed by the spread of COVID-19. Library staff had already begun relocating materials, services and personnel when the pandemic forced Duke to close campus and move classes online in spring 2020.

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“Lilly Library has been remarkably well-preserved since the Great Depression, and that’s part of the problem” said Deborah Jakubs, the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs. “Lilly lacks most of the elements of a modern research library. Many of the library services and spaces today’s students need to succeed are available in Perkins, Bostock and Rubenstein Libraries on West Campus, but not on East.”

Lilly Library opened in 1927 as Duke University’s first library on East Campus while West Campus was being constructed. For more than four decades it served as the Woman’s College Library, but, when the Woman’s College merged with Trinity College of Arts & Sciences in 1972, the library was renamed the East Campus Library.

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