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A picture (click for a larger view) of some of the artwork in Bouillon Hall, the former library: 
By clicking on the above, you can view pictures of 67 beautiful libraries in the world. To contact the Webmaster, Email: fol@cwu.edu Copyright
© 2006-2008
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Welcome to the CWU The CWU Friends of the Library (FOL), established in 1994, helps to ensure that the library remains a vital part of Central Washington University. Our bi-annual newsletters and meetings keep you informed of library events.
Our primary purpose is to raise funds for library acquisitions: books, journals, recordings, musical scores, films, maps, electronic databases. Each fall, the Friends conduct a two-day booksale on the Ellensburg campus that has raised several thousand dollars for these type of materials. Our goal during the next biennium is to increase the Friends of the Library endowment to $100,000. We are already one-third of the way there. Join the Friends in sustaining the Brooks Library. To join the Friends in support of the Library, print out and complete the Contribution Form, attach your check and forward to the Friends of the Library at the address provided on the form.
Breaking News and Notices 
President's Corner
In this secular age, we often forget that monasteries, during the European Dark Ages, were vigorous economic and cultural islands in the midst of poverty and ignorance. Monasteries not only acquired and created religious works, they preserved important secular texts from the ancient world. Their collections became the nuclei of some of today's great libraries. Among the 67 photos in our featured slide show are three belonging to monasteries: St. Gall, Admont and the Escorial. The monastery of St. Gall, south of Lake Constance in Switzerland, was founded by Irish monks in the early 8th century. Its library's first friend was the 9th-century abbot Gozbert, who collected manuscripts from Germany and Italy. On the pilgrimage route to Rome, St. Gall often received books as gifts from travelers. After an initial burst of activity, the library declined until the 15th century when the energetic abbot, Ulrich Roesch, gave it a generous annual allotment for the purchase of books. On several occasions, the library suffered attacks by various marauders but always managed to save or recover its books. The handsome room that greets visitors today was constructed in the mid-18th century. Once open only to monks, clerics and pilgrims, St. Gall can now be used by scholars and the general public. To the east of St. Gall lies Admont, dating back to the eleventh century. Its literary abbot Gottfried collected both religious and secular works from Germany and France. As at St. Gall, a 17th-century bibliophilic abbot granted it a large annual sum for acquisitions. The beautiful library depicted in the photo was built in the eighteenth century to hold 95,000 volumes, a treasure trove for monks and scholars alike. Today, Admont is the largest monastic library in the world and renowned for its natural science collection. Thirty miles northwest of Madrid lies the Royal Monastery library of El Escorial. Founded by King Philip II, an unsuccessful suitor of Elizabeth I, this library was planned as a repository for all published Spanish books. At first this late foundation reflected the rigid theological attitudes of its benefactor. Yet even within his lifetime, the library acquired works from the Netherlands, the eastern and southern Mediterranean, and Turkey. Alas, a new Spanish dynasty decided to establish a more convenient national library in Madrid, and after 1700, no new acquisitions occurred. Currently, the Escorial library houses a rich collection of Arab and Hebrew manuscripts as well as a large assemblage of church music. The monastery and library of St. Gall as well as the monastery/palace complex of El Escorial are U.N. World Heritage sites. Surrounded by mountains, Admont abuts the Austrian national park Gesäuse. The monastery hosts not only the library but also museums of natural history and art. On your next trip to Europe, plan to visit one of these beautiful libraries. Beverly Heckart, Chair Board Meeting
Board of Directors Meetings are called by the Chair periodically on an as needed basis. The date and time will be posted here when available.
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