Messiah College: Murray Library

Friends of Murray Library

Friends of Murray Library at Messiah College was formed in 1993 for the following purposes:

To stimulate interest in the collections and facilities of Murray Library.
To provide an opportunity for those interested in the library to participate in exhibits, programs, and volunteer activities.
To attract gifts of books, manuscripts, and other materials for the library's enrichment.
To encourage and receive financial contributions for needs beyond the library budget, such as building special collections.

Special Collections

Each of Murray Library's four special collections traces its beginning to Friends of Murray Library.

Artists' Books - Visually exciting and intellectually provocative, artists' books push to the outermost limits our assumed definition of what a book is, and turn the practice of reading into a novel experience. Simply defined, artists' books are a hybrid art form in which books and art intersect. Many of the over 100 artists' books in Murray Library's collection are the work of well-known book artists, including works by Messiah College art faculty. Friends funds new acquisitions to the collection each year, enhancing its use as an interdisciplinary teaching resource. To view an online brochure of the Artists' Books collection, click here

Ruth E. Engle Memorial Collection of Children's Book Illustration - Dedicated in April 2004, this collection of original picture-book art by award-winning illustrators was established with gifts given to Friends of Murray Library in memory of Ruth Engle, a charter member who also served on its board. New artworks are added to the collection annually, funded by Friends and gifts from donors. Currently, more than two dozen artworks are on display, reflecting a variety of media, styles and subjects and including works by illustrators from Australia, China, Korea, Mali and Russia, as well as the USA. View the online portfolio featuring 15 of the more than 30 works currently in the collection. For a list of other illustrators represented in the collection, click here. Better still, visit the collection, free of charge, during library hours.

Canadian Literature - Friends committed more than $10,000 to establish this special collection, currently consisting of more than 700 titles by such influential Canadian authors as Margaret Atwood, Rudy Wiebe, Robertson Davies, Leonard Cohen and Alice Munro, each identified by a Friends-commissioned bookplate. The collection is being expanded to include poetry, plays, critical and other non-fiction works.

W. Jim Neidhardt Collection on Religion and Science - Dr. W. Jim Neidhardt's keen interest in the relationship between modern science and the Christian faith, as well as the presence of several longtime friends at Messiah College, led him to give his extensive personal library of Murray Library. Subject areas in the collection are astonishingly diverse, ranging from physics, engineering and theology to cybernetics, chaos theory and aesthetics. A Friends-commissioned bookplate bearing Neidhardt's likeness portrays aspects of his lifework and identifies volumes in the collection.

Activities

Annual Dinner Meeting & Program, Thursday, 29 September 2011.
10th Annual Library Research Grants to be awarded - These competitive grants support academic research at other libraries for an independent study project or honor's thesis by Messiah students. Up to $750 per grantee will be awarded in November 2011 for the 2011/12 academic year. Application deadline: Wednesday, 26 October 2011. Application details. Awards announced 16 November 2011.
16th Annual Used Book Sale, Saturday, March 24, 2012; Monday and Tuesday, March 26 and 27, 2012. Donations of books may be dropped off at the library any time during operating hours. Receipts for tax purposes are available upon request.

Memberships

All categories cover immediate family members and include the following:

To view an online brochure with membership application for Friends of Murray Library, click here.