What We Do

Strengthen Collections & Preserve Materials

The Friends provide funding for special acquisitions that enrich the Libraries’ collections and support emerging areas of teaching and research.

The Friends of the Libraries Preservation Fund also supports the care and conservation of rare, fragile, and distinctive materials, helping ensure that they remain available to future generations of students and scholars.

Support Open Access

The Friends provide funding for Smith ScholarWorks, the College’s digital repository of Smith faculty publications, graduate student theses, and special projects.

This support helps preserve Smith scholarship, expand its visibility, and make it freely available to readers and researchers around the world.

Fund Equipment & Furnishings

Friends funding allows the Libraries to purchase furnishings, technology, and specialized equipment that may fall beyond the scope of the regular operating budget.

Past support has included a large-format book and manuscript scanner that enables the Libraries to digitize rare and fragile materials while protecting the original items from unnecessary handling.

Encourage Research in Special Collections

Each year, the Friends support two competitive Friends of the Smith College Libraries Fellowship grants. These fellowships enable graduate students, independent scholars, and other researchers to travel to Smith and conduct research using the distinctive materials held in Special Collections.

Learn more about Research Fellowships and previous Fellowship Recipients.

Build Long-Term Support

Providing for the long-term strength of the Libraries has always been an important Friends priority.

The Friends of the Libraries Endowed Fund provides ongoing, flexible support for the Libraries’ evolving needs. Growing the fund will help ensure that future generations of students, faculty, staff, and researchers continue to benefit from outstanding library collections, services, spaces, and expertise.

Invest in Library Staff

The Friends support the professional growth of library staff through an annual professional development grant. Each year, the grant enables one or two staff members to pursue advanced training, develop new expertise, and bring that knowledge back to the Smith community.

Past recipients have attended Association of College and Research Libraries programs to strengthen their teaching skills and completed training in areas such as digital collections and emerging library practices.

Support Smith Students

Learning to use library resources and services effectively is an important part of every Smith student’s academic experience. The Friends have long supported library orientation programs that introduce new students to the Libraries’ spaces, collections, services, and staff.

The Friends also help create moments of community and respite during especially demanding times of the academic year. During reading period and final examinations, Friends support provides nighttime snacks, games, puzzles, and other opportunities for students to pause and recharge. Treats are also offered during occasions such as Halloween and Valentine’s Day.

Serve the Wider Smith Community

The Friends help extend access to library resources beyond campus. Friends funding underwrites alums access to the digital library [JSTOR] through the Smith Network.

Visit Services for Smith Alums to learn more about JSTOR and other electronic resources available to alums.

The Friends also sponsor lectures, conversations, and other informative and engaging programs that connect alums and members of the wider community with the Libraries, their collections, and the intellectual life of the College.

Watch recordings of selected programs on the Friends’ YouTube Playlist.