Dear Friends of American University Library:

I am happy to present the fourth annual report on the current status and activities of Friends of American University Library for the past fiscal year 2003-2004. From our beginning six years ago, our two most important purposes have been to contribute financially to the growth and enhancement of the University Library, and to provide attractive intellectual and book-related programs for members and the general public. During the 2004 fiscal year we have once again made great strides in both areas.

A second major purpose of Friends of AU Library is to contribute to the intellectual and educational life of the AU community though book-related and library-related events. Two highly successful Celebrating Scholarship presentations were held during the year that attracted capacity audiences. At these events, faculty authors, who have recently published books, discussed their books and the ideas and research that guided them. The faculty authors and their books were Akbar Ahmend, Islam under Seige; Robert Beisner, American Foreign Relations since 1600: a Guide to the Literature; Alan Kraut, Goldberger’s War; the Life and Work of a Public Health Crusader; Daniel Dreisbach, Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State; Sue Headlee, A Year Inside the Beltway: Making Economic Policy in Washington; and Howard Wachtel, Street of Dreams, Boulevard of Broken Hearts: Wall Street’s First Century.

At a well-attended event appropriately titled “The Write Stuff” held during the Homecoming Reunion weekend last October, the library sponsored book talks by three alumni authors. These authors included: Jan Pottker (CAS/BA 1969), author of Janet and Jackie: the Story of a Mother and her Daughter, Jackie Kennedy Onassis; Amy Schapiro (CAS/BA 1992), author of Millicent Fenwick: Her Way; and Kenneth T. Walsh (SOC/MA 1970), author of Air Force One: A History of Presidents and their Planes. And at a more recent book talk in May of this year, Professor of History Emeritus Charles McLaughlin presented a slide lecture on his recent new edition of Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England, an early publication of the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Following the talk an AU landscape architect conducted a tour of AU campus grounds and plantings.

FOL also sponsored a number of theater outings and public lectures. A year ago last May some thirty Friends gathered to celebrate the opening of the new Round House black box theatre in Silver Spring and to attend a play by Glen Berger, “Underneath the Lintel.” A one-man production featuring actor-artistic director Jerry Whiddon, the play depicted the life-altering quest for a lost book by a mild-mannered librarian who checks in books left in drop slot. Following that performance the group met at the nearby Tastee Diner for dinner and conversation. Early this year a number of Friends attended an AU student hip-hop production of “Hip Hop Much Ado About Nothing” at AU’s own Greenberg Theatre. An after-the-performance panel discussion of the play included director Caleen Jennings; Professor-emeritus and Friend Jeanne Roberts; and American University Library Friend and former Helen Hayes judge, James Carroll. In December FOL also co-sponsored, with the Kay Spiritual Life Center, a lecture on the civil rights revolution by the noted historian and Pulizer-prize winning author, Taylor Branch, whose books Parting the Waters and Pillar of Fire brilliantly describe the civil rights movement.

Friends also sponsored bus tours, coffee hours, teas, and a 25th anniversary party. During Homecoming Weekend Jim Heintz led three fully subscribed bus tours to nearby sites including the former homes of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, the Washington Cathedral, Embassy Row, and former sites of Civil War forts. Friends co-sponsored with the Helen Kettler Society a tea which honored James Carroll who recently donated his collection of 1600 theatre play bills to the library along with a pledge to sustain them. Friends also sponsored two well-attended finals coffee breaks for students studying for final exams previous to exam week. And in April Friends staged a 25th-year cake-cutting anniversary party commemorating the Bender Library’s 25th year of operation. On this same occasion, the University Librarian announced a new digitization project of the newspaper columns of the journalist and columnist Drew Pearson whose collection was recently donated to the library. Some $2000 was contributed towards this project by persons in attendance, among who were several Drew Pearson family members.

Finally, there were two notable field trips under the aegis of Friends of AU Library. In November Tom Carroll, the new chair-designate of the Friends Steering Committee, hosted a tour of the newly opened D.C. City Museum. And most recently this past May, Amy Schapiro, author, justice department employee, Library of Congress docent, and member of the Friends Steering Committee conducted a tour of the Library of Congress and some of its collections; more than thirty new persons and returning alumni attended.

Friends of AU Library continues to be guided by a conscientious and hard-working Steering Committee of nineteen members. During 2003-2004 your Steering Committee met at regular intervals for a total of five business meetings. The bulk of the planning and organization relating to our outreach and membership programs has been the work of two highly energetic and creative standing committees. The Program and Activities Committee was chaired by librarian Jim Heintze and the Membership and Development committee was chaired by adjunct professor Don Hester. Once again the ideas and contributions made by this committee have been indispensable to our progress and achievements during the past year.

In addition to the several outreach events and programs and the membership increases described above, these committees have made other signal contributions that deserve notice. Thanks to their efforts, Friends maintains an up-to-date accessible Web site that displays schedules of upcoming events, links to related Web sites for upcoming events (e.g. book reviews for coming book talks and locations for field trips), and an application form for Friends membership and information about donations. I also should call to your attention again the Honor with Books program that makes it possible to honor a friend or loved one through the purchase of an appropriate book and bookplate inscribed with the names of both honoree and donor. We are hoping that once the word gets out about this program, interested persons will contact Julie Darnell, our development coordinator.

Finally I wish to acknowledge Tom Carroll, who, on June 7 will become chair of the FOL Steering Committee. Tom has been an enthusiastic and generous Friend of the library over the past several years and will, together with the continuing support of the Steering Committee and all Friends, move us towards new growth and progress. Nancy Brown and I will continue to serve as members of the Steering Committee and to continue to contribute enthusiastically to the library and its programs.

At the risk of repetition, the past 2003-2004 year has been for FOL our most productive and gratifying year yet. Measured by the sizable increase in membership and financial donations and by the various outreach offerings and activities, our Friends organization is healthy, energetic, and doing very well indeed. We continue to hope that a Friend or potential Friend will step forward with that large gift that will make it possible to build a much-needed annex to our present Bender library building. Meanwhile, our Friends group, with its excellent new chair, will, I am confident, be guided wisely and productively.

Respectfully Submitted,

Roger H. Brown
Chair, Friends of AU Library