Part one of this article traced the history of Friends of the Library from 1953 to the period when the university moved from a primarily teaching institution to a research oriented university. By 1980 the executive committee of Friends recognized the need for a reorganization of its operations. Prior to that time anyone who contributed to Friends was considered a “member.” In 1983, however, when the actual restructuring took place, Friends began to charge membership dues, and Dr. Charles E. Noyes was named membership chairman. His duties were to secure as many members as possible and their annual renewal of dues.

Membership dues were to be deposited in the University Foundation, which agreed to establish a Friends of the Library Membership Endowment. The income from this endowment would be transferred to an agency account in the university and used to purchase books for the library. The memorial gift program was handled in similar fashion.

As a means of popularizing Friends’ programs and securing additional members, in 1984 and 1985 Friends of the Library invited its members to a cocktail party followed by a banquet. In 1986 the executive committee of Friends began to charge for the banquet, although the cocktail party at the home of Dr. and Mrs. M. Beckett Howorth remained (and still is) free. (Throughout the years, members of the executive committee hosted the party and contributed the refreshments.)

Banquets were held each year until 1997; the annual cocktail party was continued. Speakers for the banquets included a number of distinguished scholars and library administrators, including Richard H. Brown (Newberry Library, Chicago), William J. Welsh (Library of Congress), John Broderick (Library of Congress), Werner Gundersheimer (Folger Library), Norman Fiering (Brown University), David H. Stam (Syracuse), James F. Govan (North Carolina), Paul H. Mosher (Pennsylvania), John Y. Cole (Library of Congress), John Meador (Mississippi), Charles Cullen (Newberry), Robert Khayat (Mississippi), and Thad Cochran (U.S. Senate).

These figures are approximate. In 1999 Friends of the Library’s income for the purchase of books amounted to $18,856 from memorial gifts and $16,599 interest from the membership endowment.

The cost of books has steadily risen. The table below shows the increases.

These are national average prices for academic books in hard cover. The average cost that Friends of the Library paid for its purchases in 1999 was $56.61. For the sum of $29,564.59 Friends added 527 books to the library. One should note that prices of books vary from academic area to area. For example, books in the science fields often cost $100 or more, while volumes in the liberal arts field can often be purchased at little more than half that amount. More books, however, are published in liberal arts than in most of the science and business areas.

Throughout the 1990s Friends of the Library has made a number of important contributions to the library. Among the most notable are The Oxford Textbook of Medicine, The Dictionary of Plants Containing Secondary Metabolites, the Tennyson Archive volumes, Shakespeare Index, Academic American Encyclopedia, the Bodelian Shelley Manuscripts, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Index of English Literary Manuscripts, Encyclopedia of North American Colonies, Dictionary of Art, International Directories of Contemporary Music, Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, Comparative Studies on Governments in Nondominant Ethic Groups, The Art of the Renaissance, New York Times Theater Reviews, Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, International Encyclopedia of Business and Management, The Complete Mozart CDs, Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Paintings of Paul Cezanne, and The Papers of Robert Morris.

Among the hundreds of library books purchased during this same period by the Friends of the Library Memorial Book Fund are Records of Early English Drama, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, American National Biography, The Nobel Lectures, On the Fabric of the Human Body, The Cambridge History of Egypt, The Vatican Archives, Columbia Gazetter of the World, International Directory of Contemporary Music, Complete Beethoven Edition, The American Landscape, Grzimek’s Encyclopedia of Mammals, Encyclopedia of Architecture, Design, Engineering and Construction, Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, Annals of the Metropolitan Opera, The Works of George Savile, Battle Chronicles of the Civil War, Research Guide to American Historical Biography, Collected Works of Thomas Malthus, Biography and Genealogy Master Index, and Classical Mythology in the Arts.

Although memorial contributions and membership dues may vary from time to time, Friends of the Library expects to continue to aid the John Davis Williams Library in the pursuit of its second millionth volume. Friends continues to believe that “as the library goes, so goes the university.”

For additional information or to make a contribution, write Friends of the Library of the University of Mississippi, P.O. Box 473, University, MS 38677-4073.

John Pilkington