One Half Million Books!

The Franklin & Marshall College Library adds 10,000 to 12,000 books to the collections each year. The Library has been developing its fine resources since the first documented library collection of 136 books was bequeathed to Franklin College in 1821 by William Reichenbach, Professor of Mathematics from 1787-1821. The collection has grown by leaps and bounds - 50,000 volumes in 1928, 100,000 in 1944, 200,000 in 1969, 300,000 in the mid-80s, 400,000 in 1996, and NOW ... One Half Million volumes in 2007.

It just so happens that the celebrated book is Reading Greek Vases by our Provost & Dean of Faculty, Ann Steiner. Imagine the odds!

Below is the route our 500,000th volume took, from ordering to acquisition to cataloging to circulation before it could be checked out and enjoyed by our patrons.


Christopher Raab, Archivist, discovers the volume in a catalog and enters the order. Book, audio and video orders can be entered online.


Marty Gordon, Acquisitions Librarian, reviews and authorizes the order, then assigns a vendor.


Susan Wood, Acquisitions Assistant, finds an appropriate bibliographic record for the volume and places the order.


The book arrives approximately 4 to 6 weeks later. Gregory Grafton '07, Student Assistant, and Carol Kornhauser, Acquisitions Assistant, are quite excited by the new arrival!


After Carol reconciles the order, the volume travels to Cataloging where Rick Thompson, Cataloging Assistant, confirms the bibliographic record and affixes the barcode.


Mike Horn, Technical Services Assistant, then produces a call number label so the book can be easily found in the STACKS. He also makes the bookplates, including the one below!


A very special book plate was produced for Reading Greek Vases.


Sam Sprunk '09, Student Assistant, affixes the bookplate and security strip making the volume ready for circulation.


Melissa Farr '08, Student Assistant, shelves the volume at NK4645 .S735 2007 on the second level of Shadek-Fackenthal.


At the ASK ME desk Louise Kulp, Visual Resources Librarian, assists a student. He is looking for a book that contains information on Greek vases. Imagine the odds!


Colleen Bechtel '10, Student Assistant, checks-out the volume to our very pleased student. Thanks to the fine information provided at the ASK ME desk our student knows that he can find additional relevant books using the online catalog. He can also find more information in Electronic Resources. If research becomes more involved, he can use Interlibrary Loan or E-Z Borrow to obtain materials from other academic libraries.

The Library wishes many happy check-outs (and, of course, returns) for our ONE-HALF MILLIONTH book!