Last Friday, the library staff, students and members of the College community gathered at the Robert Frost Library to celebrate the acquisition of the library's millionth volume. There was a reception for students in the afternoon, featuring music by "AJ Junior's Fantastical Jazz Machine." The official presentation of the millionth volume was conducted at 4 p.m., and included a poem by former Poet Laureate of the United States Richard Wilbur '42, and speeches by Associate Dean of the Faculty Fredrick Griffiths, Professor of English William Pritchard and Librarian of the College Will Bridegam. Another reception followed and a symposium on the poetry of James Merrill '47 was held the following day.

The millionth volume was actually several acquisitions by the library, encompassing printed books, music CDs, DVDs, electronic databases and several other forms of information. The principal acquisition was the Merrill-Burford correspondence, a collection of letters written by Merrill and William Burford '49 while they were joint editors of The Medusa, a literary magazine.

The library also received the American Periodicals Series online, which has digital images of more than 1,100 periodicals, the AMICO library, an online database containing more than 100,000 works of art, a DVD of the motion picture "Chicago," the "PLos Biology," the first open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science, The Tiger's Eye, an important literary magazine and a compact disk of a 1938 Metropolitan Opera performance of Verdi's "Otello."

Students and library staff were excited about the occasion. "This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to celebrate. It took 183 years to accumulate one million volumes," said Bridegam. "We are pleased to share this with the people and the community. ... People are coming from all over. I think its great that students are getting involved."

Other members of the library staff echoed Bridegam's sentiments. "I hope that it is good for the students," said Daria D'Arienzo, head of archives and special collections. "I hope they're inspired to use the library more often and write poetry. And most of all, I hope it's fun. Over a year of planning went into this. We put a lot of thought in how to celebrate and how to get all the people in the community involved."

Students were also excited about the library. "I think the library is one of the most under-rated and underappreciated facets of the college," Nick Pederson '04 said. "This is the kind of innovation the library needs."

In addition to celebrating its millionth volume, the library currently is celebrating an electronic poetry display installed in the library. The display is a gift from Polly and Charles Longsworth '51 and is meant to display the works of poets associated with the College and the town of Amherst.

The donor, Charles Longsworth, is a former chair of the College board of trustees. The display is located in the new-book area on the level one of the library.

According to Michael Kasper, Reference Coordinator at Frost Library, the goal of the display is to increase student and faculty interest in poetry. According to Kasper, a new poem appears on the display every 24 hours. The works of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost are the most heavily rotated in the display.

"It's a nice touch," said Sarah Bass '06. "Poetry is very useful. It's very pleasing culturally … and aesthetically. … [The display] could expose students in a useful way to different poetry and different styles."

Ashley Pecora '06 expressed a similar sentiment. "I think it is a good way for students to be exposed to the rich poetic history of the Pioneer Valley," she said.

According to Kasper, faculty members are invited to recommend poems to be added into the rotation. Longsworth hopes to keep the College community involved in the project.

Elizabeth Galoozis '05 also acknowledged the attention the display was receiving. "Anything that makes poetry a little more public is good," she said.