The Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, our flagship facility, receives more than two million visits annually by our students, faculty and guests. A gift to NYU Libraries benefits the entire University community by helping us maintain the excellence of our research resources, instruction and services.

Gifts to the Library are also a wonderful way to remember or honor a loved one. Your gift will not only commemorate an important anniversary, birthday or special occasion, it will also help to ensure the progress of NYU’s Libraries, which are among the nation’s leading academic research facilities. You can make a gift to any of our programs or collections (listed below) by filling out the appropriate field of “My gift is in honor/memory of” on the response form. We will send an acknowledgement of your gift to person you designate.

Outlined below are several ways you can help us build collections, expand electronic information resources, and enhance instructional services.

The Friends of Bobst Library program plays a critical role in helping to provide important resources and services for the academic community. In appreciation of their gift, members receive exciting benefits, including:

• Reading privileges and on-site access to the Library's special collections and electronic databases
• Invitations to exhibition receptions, book launches and other events featuring noted authors and public figures
• Discounts on select books from NYU Press

For more information on different giving levels and benefits, download the Friends of Bobst Library brochure here.

Join today

• Online: Click here to visit NYU’s giving web site and select Friends of Bobst. You will receive your membership materials within 2 weeks of receipt of your gift.
• In Person: Visit the Library Privileges desk immediately to your left as you enter Bobst Library and sign up to receive your membership card the same day. Bobst Library is located at 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012. (map)
• By Phone: Call the Friends of Bobst Coordinator, Michael Pittman, at 212.998.2446. We accept all major credit cards.

Support our Special Collections

While still a college student, the Fales Library’s founder, DeCoursey Fales, was inspired by a literature professor and became a passionate collector of the British and American novel. In 1966, the Fales Library at NYU was established with a gift of more than 50,000 volumes and 15,000 literary manuscripts and consisted of materials which provided an enormously rich scholarly resource offering insight into how the novel has changed and developed within and across genres. Today there are nearly 200,000 books in the collection and we add new novels by carefully selected authors as they appear.

The Fales Library has since developed two other major research collections: the Downtown Collection, which documents avant-garde New York art and literature from the 1970s forward, and the Food Studies Collection, a rich historical resource of cookbooks and food culture dating from the 1790s to the present.

To make a gift, visit NYU’s giving web site and select Fales Library and Special Collections or call 212.998.2446.

The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives form an internationally known center for scholarly research on labor and the Left. Research collections focus on the history of progressive political movements, the place of the worker in American society, the evolution of labor law, women's history, immigrant history, and much more. It is the repository for the archives and library of the Communist Party, USA, the Socialist Party, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives; and the Archives of Irish America, among others. Interviews with labor leaders, rank-and-file workers, and political activists are an important part of Tamiment’s oral history and media collections. Photographs, film, videotapes, posters and memorabilia provide a rich visual record of the history of labor and radical politics.

The Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives are the designated repository for the records of the New York City Central Labor Council, its member unions and affiliated organizations. The Archives preserve the history of working-class New York: its neighborhood associations, fraternal and ethnic societies, political organizations, and the unions that shaped the social and economic structure of the City.

To make a gift, visit NYU’s giving web site and select Tamiment Library, or call 212.998.2446.

Donating Books and Materials

The Library welcomes gifts of books and materials that fall within the scope of its collecting activities. Gifts are reviewed with the same criteria as those used for purchasing new material. In both cases the decision is based upon the demands, present and anticipated, of the University's teaching and research programs.

Gifts of materials are accepted by the Libraries with the understanding that once received they are owned by the University. The Libraries reserve the right to determine their retention, cataloging treatment and other considerations related to their use or disposition. Only the Dean of Libraries or appointed designees may accept books on behalf of the Library.

Generally accepted materials include:

• Scholarly or rare items with research value that are in good physical condition
• Serious literary works
• Manuscripts, letters, and diaries

• Outdated textbooks
• Popular magazines
• Paperback editions of current popular fiction

Contact Information

Should you wish to make a donation to the Library or need additional information, please feel free to contact us.

To Join the Friends of Bobst Library please contact:
Michael Pittman
Friends of Bobst Library Coordinator
Telephone: 212.998.2446
Fax: 212.995.3240
E-mail: friends.of.bobst@nyu.edu

For information on NYU Libraries’ Endowment please contact:
Paula Jennings
Director of Development
Telephone: 212.998.6909
Fax: 212.995.3663
E-mail: paula.jennings@nyu.edu

To Donate Materials to the Tamiment Library or the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives:
Dr. Michael Nash
Head, Tamiment Library
Telephone: 212.998.2428
Fax: 212.995.4583
E-mail: michael.nash@nyu.edu

To Donate Materials to the Fales Library:
Marvin Taylor
Head, Fales Library
Telephone: 212.998.2599
Fax: 212.995.3835
E-mail: marvin.taylor@nyu.edu

To Donate Rare Books, Manuscripts and All Other Book Donations:
Dr. Michael Stoller
Director of Collections and Research Services
Telephone: 212.998.2566
Fax: 212.995.4583
E-mail: michael.stoller@nyu.edu

Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
212.998.2500